


Hoping One Day

by breathingINsnowflakes



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mpreg, Single Parent Blaine
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-06
Updated: 2015-04-13
Packaged: 2018-03-21 13:42:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 41,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3694412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breathingINsnowflakes/pseuds/breathingINsnowflakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>MPREG. When Blaine discovers that he is pregnant, he is incredibly excited for impending fatherhood, but discovers his boyfriend is not. When he decides to leave, Blaine has to deal with the difficulties alone. That is, until he meets his neighbor Kurt, who is captivated by Blaine’s quiet strength and charm. This is a story of overcoming difficult circumstances to learn to love again.</p>
<p>Warnings: Mpreg and (very) brief non-klaine pairing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prelude

Blaine took one last look at the stick in his hand, and then placed it on the counter beside the sink with a steady hand. He looked into the bathroom mirror at his reflection as if expecting to see some kind of obvious change, but there was none. Apart from looking a little paler than he normally did, his reflection still looked as it had 3 minutes before. His skin was clear and his eyes were more green than brown in the reflected light. His gel was a lost cause by now, the product of running his fingers anxiously through his hair as he debated with himself to take the test in the first place.

Now, however, his hands were sure and his back was straight.

If you had asked Blaine about his opinion on children before today, he probably would have told you that he loved children. With their little hands and smiles, and their unreserved energy and happiness, what wasn’t to like? He might even have mentioned wanting a couple of his own in the future. But this vague, idealistic plan was brought to a halt when Blaine began to suspect that this plan might be coming a lot sooner that he had expected. Fear for himself and the changes that his body would go through. Fear of telling his boyfriend and his reaction. Fear of telling anyone at all. The panic has rushed through his body, building as he grew more and more certain that his instinct was correct.

The moment he had seen the pregnancy test, however, all the doubt that he had been consumed by for the past few days vanished instantly.

He was pregnant. He was going to have a baby. Maybe with his smile and his boyfriend’s beautiful eyes. He was going to be a dad, and that was suddenly the most wonderful, amazing, glorious thing that could ever have happened to him. Looking into his reflection, Blaine’s face split into a smile.

It was sooner than he had planned, but he wanted this baby with everything that he was; now he just had to share the news with his boyfriend. Maybe Connor would be happy too?


	2. Chapter 2

_3 Months Later_

Blaine ran a hand over his swollen belly as he regarded the box lying on the pavement in front of him. The thin material of his white shirt did nothing to hide his baby bump, but in the sweltering summer heat it was unthinkable to try putting any more layers on. Even as he stood, with the sun beating down on him, Blaine could feel the uncomfortable stickiness of his t-shirt sticking to his back. He could think of no better way; the man who had dropped off the box had gotten Blaine’s signature, and driven off without a pause. The box had to get upstairs somehow. Blaine bent down, trying to use his knees to lift the large, heavy box from the ground, but no sooner had he grasped both sides, when he heard a call from behind him.

“Hey! Can I help you with that?”

He released the box and turned around, bringing up a hand to shield his eyes from the sun, and saw a man already leaning down to pick up the box. He was wearing a dark green dress shirt, despite the heat, with a pair of grey slim legged trousers. Blaine recognized him immediately as one of the men who lived in his building; he had definitely seen him before.

“Thank you. I was trying, but honestly the chances of me making it all the way to my apartment were pretty slim,” Blaine said, giving the man a thankful smile.

“No problem,” the man replied, shifting the box a little. “Lead the way?”

“Oh, sure.”

Blaine preceded the man into the shadowy relief of the building, and directed him up the stairs. There was an awkward silence as they climbed the stairs, except for the sounds of the man grunting slightly as he readjusted the box in his arms. When they turned into the hallway and Blaine gestured to his door, the man looked at him in surprise.

“This is you?” When Blaine nodded, he gave a smile and jerked his head to the door standing directly opposite. “That’s me.”

Blaine unlocked the door and ushered him inside first. “I knew you looked familiar,” he said grinning at the man.

When the man continued to stand in the center of the room, shifting the box awkwardly, Blaine hastened to add, “Oh, can you put it right here?” He rushed past and opened a door that lead to a completely empty room, and the man placed the box carefully in the center of the space.

“Thank you so much,” Blaine said, as the man straightened up.

“No problem,” the man said, “Just my neighborly duty.”

Blaine chuckled, “But you didn’t know that when we started out, did you?”  He held out a hand, “I’m Blaine, by the way.”

“Kurt,” he said, and took Blaine’s outstretched hand in his own. “And maybe I did recognize you from the building. I’ve seen you around.”

“Have you lived in the building long?” Blaine asked, trying to remember if he had even noticed a new neighbor moving in, but coming up blank.

Kurt shrugged, “About 6 months.”

“Oh,” Blaine gave a slight chuckle. “I guess I don’t actually know many people in this building, and I’ve lived here for years.”

Kurt offered him a warm smile and said, “Well, I suppose you have to start somewhere; it’s nice to meet you, Blaine.”

“And you,” Blaine offered with a grin.  “Maybe I can get you something to drink? It’s a really hot day for manual labor, and I can see that outfit doesn’t really lend itself to comfort.”

Kurt smiled his thanks and turned to follow Blaine to the small kitchen area, but it appeared that he couldn’t help but add, “When will people learn that the weather only goes so far as an excuse to change your work wardrobe before it gets plain contemptible. I mean, I understand that I may sacrifice more than most for fashion, but I draw the line at flip flops at the office.”

Blaine looked back at him while he opened the fridge. “You’re in fashion?”

Kurt seemed pleased at this quick guess, “I am.” He sat down at the table while Blaine poured them both a glass of apple juice.

“I’m a teacher,” Blaine said, handing Kurt his glass. “Fashion isn’t really your priority when staying paint and mud free is at the top of your list of aims for the day.” 

Kurt grinned. “I see your point.”

 Kurt seemed to glance over Blaine as he took a seat on the opposite side of the table, before saying, “You’re pregnant, right? I know it’s uncouth to ask, but as I just carried a dismantled crib up two flights of stairs I think you’ll forgive the assumption.”

Blaine grinned and placed a hand on his belly. “I’m not exactly trying to hide it. I’m just over four months along now.”

“And can I ask where your boyfriend is? Shouldn’t he be helping you with stuff like this?” Blaine’s face drew together at the thought of Connor, but Kurt must have interpreted the look as a question, because he continued, “I’ve seen you together in the halls.”

Blaine put his glass down on the table, and leant backwards in his chair, putting his hands over his belly protectively.

“We’re,” he paused. “We’re not together anymore.” His voice was suddenly colder, and Kurt picked up on it.

 “Oh, I’m sorry; it’s none of my business.” Blaine looked up to find Kurt looking at him with an inquiring look on his face, his eyebrows drawn together, obviously trying to work out the story behind it. Blaine wondered for a second what Kurt must be seeing on his face, and tried to school his expression into something more composed. 

“No, god, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound rude,” Blaine said quickly. “We just, um, decided to go our own separate ways,” Blaine shrugged.

Kurt inclined his head as if to indicate that he was not going to push the subject, but Blaine could see a slight crease between his eyebrows that made him sure that Kurt had something more to say on the subject.

“This pregnancy wasn’t planned,” Blaine said eventually, keeping his eyes down on his glass. “I mean, I thought we would be headed in this direction eventually.” He looked up at Kurt and elaborated, “You know, marriage, babies. But we’d been together a year and a half when I found out I was pregnant, and it turned out that he never wanted children. Just never saw them as part of the plan. He didn’t want to keep it, and I knew already that I could never give up my baby. So, we both wanted different things. He moved out, and I decided to raise the baby alone.” Blaine looked down at his hands, still placed protectively over his stomach. “We each get what we want.” As he said it, he heard the echo of _his_ voice repeating the same phrase, and the phantom feeling of his heart breaking.

“Well, he obviously doesn’t know what he’s missing out on,” Kurt said, and Blaine could see the hardness that had not left his eyes, but was now softened by another look; pity?

“God,” Blaine said quickly, “You don’t have to say that. You don’t have to say anything; I don’t even know why I said all that. Normally I just stick to ‘we decided to go our own separate ways’. I don’t know why I told you the whole sob story.” Blaine trailed off, the train of thought being directed more at himself than Kurt.

“Maybe sometimes you just need someone to listen. I don’t know you, so I can’t judge you. Sometimes it’s easier to speak to someone you don’t really know.” 

Blaine smiled in thanks. He immediately tried to steer the conversation to more neutral topics. “So how long have you lived in New York?”

Kurt seemed to sense that Blaine wanted to change the topic, and did not need prompting for a long story about his move from small town, Ohio that somehow included a loud best friend, a hippo brooch, and a show choir.


	3. Chapter 3

Blaine could hear the yells growing in volume from where he sat on the couch watching television, a cup of herbal tea in hand. He couldn’t make out the words just yet, but he recognized the voice at once as Kurt’s, and he did not sound happy.

“…and now I’m the one who has to deal with her mistakes? No way, let’s just see what Marcia says on Monday when-“ but the sound of the door slamming cut off the rest of his rant.

You can’t go over there, Blaine thought to himself. They hardly knew each other after all. Kurt had talked with Blaine for a while the previous day, easily discussing music and his favorite movies, as well as having a seemingly endless supply of hilarious stories about his catty colleagues.

Over the course of the conversation, Blaine had realized that this was a man that he could be friends with, thriving on Kurt’s snark that barely hid the obvious passion for his work and for his friends. But they were still purely acquaintances. Kurt had left Blaine’s apartment later that afternoon after telling him in no uncertain terms that if he needed any heavy lifting done, he shouldn’t hesitate to find him next door, but that was just Kurt being polite; neighborly courtesy. Blaine couldn’t explain why he felt the need to go next door and console him after a slightly heated phone call.

Blaine leant further back against the sofa, before he huffed and grabbed another pillow to reduce the strain on his back. He resolutely turned his eyes back to the screen. It must be his pregnancy hormones again, making him care about everything too much. Better avoid any TV shows with anything as moving as a kitten. He’d be bawling in no time.

It was an hour later that Blaine was interrupted from his mindless watching by a knock on the door. He quickly moved to the door, and pulled it open. Kurt was standing there with a slightly uncomfortable look on his face, tension in every line of his body.

“Um, I don’t know if you’re interested, but I baked some cookies. Do you maybe want to…” he trailed off, moving his gaze to the floor.

Blaine immediately stepped out into the hall and shut the door behind him. “That sounds great,” he said enthusiastically, moving towards Kurt’s apartment where the door was still standing open behind him.

Kurt’s apartment was almost identical to Blaine’s, but it was clear that Kurt knew how to decorate more than Blaine could ever hope to. Kurt directed him to a beautiful wooden table just off the kitchen, and Blaine sat down while Kurt moved to get the cookies. He set down a plate in front of Blaine before moving off to get some milk, and Blaine knew at once that Kurt had been busy. There were at least three different types of cookies in front of him, and he could see another batch in the oven. Trying desperately not to get distracted by the heavenly smell wafting through the apartment, Blaine allowed his head to rest on both hands, and said, “So, you’re a stress baker?”

“What?” Kurt said, immediately straightening up from where he had set down the milk on the table.

“Well, I think from the fact that the whole building could hear your phone call earlier, and you managed to turn your apartment into a bakery in about an hour, I think I can safely say you’re a stress baker.” At Kurt’s incredulous look, Blaine smirked. Then he gestured to the seat next to him. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Kurt sat down opposite him with a sigh, and immediately started up a story about an aggravating coworker, waving his hands around in pure frustration as he spoke.

“So, not only do _I_ have to get the correct fabric over the weekend, but Craig told everyone in the office that I told him to get the wrong ones, so it’s my fault! No way am I letting him blame this on me. On Monday when my boss asks about this, I’m hanging him out to dry, no qualms whatsoever.”

Blaine smiled at his vehemence, and clapped his hands together. “He sounds like a jerk to me.” Kurt nodded forcefully, as Blaine continued, “What you need is to veg out tonight. Let go of some of that stress.” Kurt gave him a small smile, and Blaine got to his feet. “What we’re going to do is take those cookies out the oven,” he gestured behind Kurt to the kitchen, and Kurt immediately jumped to his feet with a yelp to save the forgotten cookies. When Kurt had seen that the cookies were okay, Blaine continued. “We’re going to grab a plate, and watch your favorite movie. It will make this day seem much better. Trust me, it’s tried and tested.” When Kurt offered his acquiescence, Blaine gave him a big grin, and grabbed the plate of chocolate chip cookies out of Kurt’s hands, and made his way over to the couch.

He waited until Kurt had put on his movie and came to join Blaine on the other end of the couch. “Don’t judge me,” Kurt said in a huffy voice as the menu started playing and a romantic musical title appeared on the screen.

“Judge you? I love this movie!” Blaine squealed excitedly. “Don’t judge _me_ when I start crying at the end.”

Kurt’s face broke into a huge smile and he turned to press play.

A few minutes into the movie, Blaine picked up a cookie from the plate and took a bite.

It was still warm from the oven, and the chocolate chips were still gooey as they spread over his tongue. It contrasted with the slight crunch of the cookie where it had started to cool on the outside. Oh my god, this cookie. He took another big bite. The sweetness of the cookie was incredible, not overpowering, but enough to know that it was a treat. He took and even bigger bite. Happiness, that was what cookies were.

His little bubble of heaven was invaded then, by a small giggle. He looked over and saw Kurt looking over at him with a wide smile covering his face.

“What?” Blaine asked.

“You’re moaning,” Kurt replied, and Blaine could still hear the suppressed laughter in his voice. “You are actually moaning over my cookies. I have never gotten that reaction before. It must be good.

Blaine felt heat rush into his cheeks at the words, but added defensively, “I’m pregnant. I have cravings okay? I’ve realized over the last couple of months that I never truly appreciated food until now. And these happen to be really good, so…”

Kurt grinned. “Let me try one.” And he leaned over to try and grab a cookie off the plate. Blaine could still feel the blush on his face, but he tried to lift the cookies out of Kurt’s reach all the same.

“No way, you’re not getting them now.” He said, voice full of false bravado. “They’re really good; I’m having them all now.” Kurt sat back for just a second, raised a single eyebrow, and Blaine immediately knew this was a mistake. Blaine shrieked as Kurt scrambled over him to reach for the plate. When it became clear that this plan was not going to work, Kurt sat back again with a look of determination. He brought a hand to Blaine’s side, and started ticking him for all he was worth. Blaine immediately knew he was done. He admitted defeat, shaking with laughter.

“Okay, okay!” He yelled. “Fine, you can have one!”

“Thank you!” Kurt said, smiling his victory.

Blaine offered Kurt the plate, and then picked up another cookie for himself as they settled back on the couch.

As Kurt returned his attention to the movie, Blaine regarded him fondly. He seemed happier already.

Blaine turned back to the screen, lifting his cookie to his lips. When he bit into it he gave an exaggerated moan of pleasure, and Kurt dissolved into a fresh peal of laughter.


	4. Chapter 4

Kurt was sitting with his head in his hands, watching Blaine move around the kitchen preparing dinner. Somehow, over the next few days they had ended up spending each evening together, just enjoying each other’s company. Kurt thought it was unusual that they had gotten so close so fast; he found that he normally took more time to open up completely to people, and that was part of the reason why he only had a few very close friends. But he had stopped trying to analyze his interactions with Blaine, and was just enjoying their newfound friendship.

As Blaine paused in his preparations in order to gesture wildly along with his story, Kurt found himself smiling at the man’s simple enthusiasm. His eyes raked over his body when Blaine turned to face him again, and his eyes were drawn to his belly were it was stretching his shirt.

He tried to imagine Blaine doing this same thing in several months, except with a high chair in the corner, or a baby monitor on the counter.

Blaine finished his story, and returned to stirring the pot on the stove.

“That smells really good,” Kurt said, the aroma of the sauce permeating the air, but Blaine wrinkled his nose.

“I really felt like this earlier, but you know what I want really bad now? Doritos,” he said it almost wistfully.

Kurt blanched. “Blaine, you cannot eat Doritos! Do you know how much MSG is in that stuff?”

“Do you know how good it tastes?” Blaine countered.

Kurt raised an eyebrow. “You can’t have that while you’re pregnant though. Do we have to go through the benefits of healthy eating to an unborn child?”  

Blaine sighed, “No. I guess my lack of Doritos will be worth it when the baby gets here.”

“Do you know what you’re having?” Kurt asked. “The sex of the baby, I mean.”

“Oh, no.” Blaine said, moving a hand to touch his belly as he turned to face Kurt. “I mean, not technically. But between you and me?” Kurt smiled indulgently at him, and nodded. “I know it’s a boy,” he said simply, turning back to his pot.

“How?” Kurt inquired.

“I don’t know really,” Blaine replied. “I mean, it never really bothered me, you know? I didn’t care about what sex the baby was, I just wanted it to be mine. But I just have this feeling, it’s hard to explain.”

“So what if you’re wrong?” Kurt asked.

Blaine chuckled, “Nothing, ‘I’ll just have to deal with the fact that I don’t actually have any great premonition abilities.”

“Do you know what you’re going to call him?” Kurt asked.

“Oh yes,” Blaine said, putting a lid on one of the pots, and sitting down at the table opposite Kurt. “Oliver. It’s a name I’ve had picked out ever since I was in high school. I always liked it.” Blaine rolled his eyes at Kurt. “Yes, I was one of those kids, imaging the names of my someday future children. I’d actually forgotten about it until I got pregnant, and then it all came back to me.”

“Oliver. I like it a lot,” Kurt said, trying it out on his tongue. “And if it’s a girl?”

“Oh, I don’t know exactly. I was thinking about Amy or Emma or Elizabeth, or something like that, but I hadn’t really narrowed it down yet.”

“I like Elizabeth,” Kurt said, smiling at Blaine but lowering his eyes a little.

“Yeah?”

“I always thought it was beautiful, but I may be a little biased; it was my mother’s name.”

Blaine’s eyes tightened when he registered the past tense, but then softened at the look on Kurt’s face. “It’s a lovely name. Definitely high on my list.”

Kurt gave him another shy smile, and said, “But let’s get to the important stuff. How are you decorating the nursery?”

Blaine’s smile fell of his face almost at once, and he looked a bit overwhelmed. “Well, um, so far I have a crib.”

“The box? Is that it?”

“Well, it’s still early days, I thought I’d get the crib and then, you know…”

“Forget about it?” Kurt said with a condescending eyebrow.

“Kurt, look around. Decorating and design aren’t exactly my strong suits.”

Kurt couldn’t help the smile that came over his face at that; it might as well be an open invitation. Blaine had no idea what he was getting himself into. “We’ll think of something.”


	5. Chapter 5

Kurt found himself at Blaine’s kitchen table earlier than usual that weekend; without work to distract him, he realized how badly he had come to depend on Blaine’s company lately. They were engaged in a conversation about the exact merits of bow ties, of which they were surprisingly mostly in agreement, when there was a knock on the door.

“One second,” Blaine said to Kurt as he got up to open the door.

There was a sound of surprise from Blaine, and then a call of “Blaine! You ready, man?”

Then a much higher voice said, “You didn’t forget did you?”

“Um, well…. No, of course no-”

Then the man’s voice was speaking again, “Oh, he totally did. Now he’s not in the right frame of mind to go shopping, Tina, we’ll just have to spend the day here, oh no.”

Kurt heard the sound of people entering the apartment, and caught sight of a very good looking blond man walking past the table where Kurt was sitting, who stopped at the sight of him.

Then a girl in a green dress walked up behind him saying, “Sam, you don’t need mental preparation for shopping; at least, I don’t… Oh!” She too stopped short at the sight of Kurt at the table.

Kurt took the initiative, “Hi, I’m Kurt. I live next door.”

Sam immediately moved forward to offer an outstretched hand. “I’m Sam, Blaine’s best friend.”

Then the girl, Tina, stepped forward, “And I’m Tina, Blaine’s actual best friend.”

Sam rolled his eyes behind her back, but otherwise made no retort.

Blaine was standing back watching the scene with a small smile on his face, as if he’d seen it a million times, but by the look in his face, the sentiment obviously meant something to him.

“We were planning on going shopping today,” Blaine offered, after Tina had moved back once more. “Tina has a date tomorrow, and she was going to help me pick out some maternity clothes. Apparently I underestimated just how quickly this little guy grows.” His hand came to rest on his stomach, and Sam jumped at the opportunity to stall.

“Yeah, but Blaine’s not ready,” Sam ignored Blaine’s obvious protest. “And we just met Kurt, Tina, it would be rude to leave now just for clothes!” He made a quick grab and sat down in Blaine’s recently abandoned seat. “So, Kurt, what do you do?”

Kurt smiled impishly as he said, “I’m in fashion.”

Sam made a defeated noise and dropped his head on the table, while Kurt, Blaine, and Tina laughed. Kurt could just hear Sam’s mumbled words, “Fashion; fashion at every turn!” 

“How about I make us lunch first, and then we can head up to do some shopping?” Blaine suggested. Then he turned to Kurt with an imploring look. “Kurt, please stay.”

Kurt was a little surprised at being included in Blaine’s day with his friends, but jumped at the opportunity to spend more time with Blaine. The thought of returning to his empty apartment was jarring after his morning of carefree laughter with Blaine.

He smiled at Blaine’s eager expression, “Of course.”

“So, Blaine,” Sam said, turning around to look over at Blaine, who was still standing in the entrance. “How’s my godchild?”

Blaine rolled his eyes as he walked forward to lean against the kitchen counter. “You’re not the godfather, Sam.”

Sam didn’t look even remotely surprised at this statement, and Kurt got the distinct impression that they had had this conversation before.

“You say that now,” Sam said, his enthusiasm not faltering at all, “but just wait. I’d be a really great godfather, Blaine.” Then he continued in a vaguely Irish sounding accent, “I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.”

Blaine rolled his eyes at the terrible impression but let out a laugh all the same, “Oh my god, Sam, no. You know my brother is going to be godfather.”

“And you and I both know that’s not actually going to happen. Cooper raising your child in the case of your untimely demise? Why would you do that to your child, Blaine? Don’t you love it at all?” Sam flicked his hair back when Blaine made no response but to share an exasperated look with Tina. “You’ll come around.”

“Anyway,” Blaine said, and Kurt could see he was trying very hard not to roll his eyes, “How are things with you, Tina?”  

Kurt sat back and watched the friends catch up, allowing himself to enjoy seeing Blaine in this new environment. He seemed to be a mediating factor between Tina and Sam, who were both seemingly vying for his attention at every turn. Suddenly Kurt could clearly see just how good of a parent Blaine was going to be one day.

He had zoned out, his mind conjuring up images of Blaine in the future, when the conversation was turned back to him.

“So, Kurt, are you seeing anyone right now?” Tina asked, her eyes traveling from Kurt’s gaze to Blaine, who was still lounging against the cupboards.

Kurt quickly averted his eyes, turning to face Tina and trying not to look flustered. “Um, no, not right now. I was seeing a guy a little while ago, but it wasn’t anything serious.”

“Why’d you break up?” Tina asked, her attention on him becoming even more focused.

“Tina, you can’t just ask-” Sam started, but Tina cut him off.

“Yeah right, ‘cause you’re the king of subtlety,” she said quickly, not even taking her gaze off Kurt.

Kurt debated telling her it was none of her business, but he could see Blaine trying to hide his interest. “He wasn’t ready for a serious relationship, and I wanted to start settling down.”

“Oh, rough, man,” Sam said, his gaze flicking to Blaine in turn. “But you’re on the lookout now?”

“Not really,” Kurt offered. “I’m kind of a romantic; like if it’s meant to be, I’ll find him. I’m not going to rush my feelings for someone I’m not one hundred percent sure on.”

“I think that’s the best idea,” Blaine offered. “Otherwise you end up thinking you’re on the same page, when really you just made it all up in your head.” He gave a self-depreciating wave of a hand, and added, “Learn from me, my friends.” 

They laughed, but Sam kept his eyes on Kurt. “You know, there are guys out there who want to settle down and aren’t just up for a good time.” He extended a hand towards Blaine, and said, “Just look at Blaine, here. He’s serious commitment material.”

“Oh yeah,” Blaine said, putting a hand to his stomach where it was stretching out his shirt. “I mean, with this bump I’m a real catch,” he said, chuckling as he made his way towards the fridge to start lunch.

“I dunno,” Kurt said, his words coming without thought. “For guys like me that don’t have the gene, you being able to have kids makes you really special.”

Blaine turned around to look at Kurt as the words caught up to him and his face filled with color. 

“Yeah,” he said, smiling at Kurt. “Thanks.”

Kurt was too busy returning the smile to catch the hopeful looks that Sam and Tina were sharing.


	6. Chapter 6

Blaine cooked dinner for himself and Kurt on Thursday the next week. Their friendship, which began so easily, had progressed to an effortless companionship that Blaine was so thankful for. With the stress that he’d been under lately with the pregnancy, it was a relief to have someone who treated him normally.

Since the breakup, it seemed that everyone wanted to step lightly around him, to take extra care when dealing with his emotions, and if not, conversations  were almost exclusively devoted to his plans for the rest of his pregnancy, his plans for the birth, his plans for raising a child on his own. Blaine understood that he had another person to care for, and he had to be responsible, but it was incredibly overwhelming. It was like a breath of fresh air when Kurt asked him how he was before asking after the baby, or asked about work, or his day, or what he thought of some new movie or current event. It was enough to make him feel like his own person again.

“Anyway,” Kurt said as he reached the end of his story about work that day. “It’s late, you probably want to get some rest.”

“Yeah, early day tomorrow.”

Kurt grimaced in sympathy, then gestured to the kitchen. “Do you need any help cleaning up?”

Blaine shook his head, “No, I’m a clean-as-you-go kind of cook. These dishes will be fine.”

Blaine walked Kurt to the door, and offered him a parting smile. “Sleep well.”

“You, too.” Then suddenly Kurt was bridging the gap, and wrapping his arms around Blaine. Blaine sucked in a surprised gasp, but then relaxed into the pressure, squeezing back with a chuckle. Kurt’s voice was loud in his ear as he said, “If you need anything, you know I’m right across the hall, okay?”

Blaine pulled back slightly, and said, “Of course. Thank you.”

The rush of gratitude he felt at that was sharp, and he tightened his arms around Kurt quickly before he released him.

“Night,” Kurt said, crossing the hall to his door.

Blaine closed the door softly behind him, fastened the chain on the door, and walked back into the kitchen. He hummed quietly to himself as he cleared away the small mess left in the kitchen, washing up cups and placing them back into the cupboard. Once he was satisfied with the state of the apartment he moved to his bedroom to get ready for bed.

He gave a huge sigh as he leant back into the pillows and pulled the blanket up to his chin.

He was so happy that he had Kurt to talk to now. Sam was his best friend, but it was different with Kurt; less comic books and role playing, and more openness and comfort. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed it now more than ever.

He was trying to be so strong about what was happening, but the truth was that this was not the way that he had envisaged his life going. Kurt helped him forget about the future that he had wanted so badly, and was showing him the life that he could have; different, but still so amazing.

Blaine was on the cusp of sleep, the moment when you could swear you were still awake, but that calm has already begun to envelop you. That was why when he was jolted awake, he couldn’t realize what had woken him so suddenly. He opened his eyes to the darkness of his room, and listened hard for any small noise, but the apartment was completely silent. He had just shut his eyes once more, when he felt it; the thing that had clearly woken him. It was a sharp pressure in his stomach, gone as quickly as it came, but it was unmistakable. He put his hand to the spot where he had felt it, and almost as if to assure him, he felt it gain. His baby was kicking.

He was out of bed in a split second, tearing out of his bedroom, through the apartment, out his front door, and began frantically pounding on Kurt’s door. It wasn’t until Kurt opened the door, bleary eyed from sleep, his hair adorably ruffled, that Blaine realized that there were tears in his eyes.

Kurt looked incredibly startled.

“Blaine,” he said, opening his door completely. “Blaine, what’s wrong, is there a problem?” He looked so anxious, and Blaine was quick to put him at ease.

“No, nothing’s wrong, just-” Blaine faltered for a second, then just reached out to grab Kurt’s hand, and brought it to the spot where he had felt the kick.

Kurt looked very confused, still muddled from sleep, and when nothing happened he asked, “What’s happening?”

“No, wait, I felt it!” Blaine kept Kurt’s hand placed to his stomach with his own. A few more seconds passed, and then he felt it again, a little to the left of where Kurt’s hand was, and so he readjusted it quickly, and when he felt the kick a second later, he saw the comprehension dawn on Kurt’s face.

He looked up at Blaine, and his eyes were wide and open. “You’ve never felt him kick before?”

“Well, I could feel him move around a little, like a swooshing feeling, but never like this.” Blaine could hear how choked his own voice sounded, but couldn’t clear it. “Never this; he’s kicking.”

The smile that broke out over Kurt’s face mirrored the one on Blaine’s, and they returned their eyes to where their hands were joined on Blaine’s belly.

Blaine was not sure how long they stood in the hallway between their two apartments, huddled against Kurt’s open door, but eventually Kurt said, “Come inside, it’s late.”

Kurt kept hold of Blaine’s hand in his, and lead him back into his apartment. Blaine allowed himself to be led toward the couch, and when Kurt lay down the length of the couch, he directed Blaine to lie back onto his chest. They both extended their legs, and Kurt moved his hands to Blaine’s stomach again, pressing to feel the movement.

Blaine allowed himself to daydream as they lay on the couch, his head resting heavily on Kurt’s chest, but his smile grew again when he heard Kurt.

“Wow.” It was more of an exhalation than a voicing, but Blaine heard the amazement in his tone. When Blaine began speaking, it was soft and unmeasured. It was easy to talk to the dark ceiling.

“After Connor left, I was really depressed. I mean, I had Sam and Tina, and they were really great. Helping me, and encouraging me, and telling me that I could do it on my own. But, I don’t think that they really understood that it wasn’t just about taking care of a baby by myself. I know it’s going to be really hard, but I also know that I can get through it. It was the other stuff that bothered me.

“Like, in the hospital after the delivery? No one was going to be there to share that with. And when he speaks his first word, or takes his first steps. Or when he loses a tooth and I have to play tooth fairy. I had to get used to the fact that I would be experiencing those things on my own.”

Blaine took a breath, and then continued. “I wanted someone who would share those firsts and understand how much they mean to me.” He stopped, then moved his hands over Kurt’s on his stomach. “But when I felt the baby kick, I didn’t think about the fact that this was another first that I had to go through alone. I didn’t think at all. I just rushed over here, because I wanted you to experience it with me.

“I can see I’m not going to go through this alone. I do have people who care about me. Kurt, you’re a really great friend.”

Blaine couldn’t see Kurt’s face, but Kurt squeezed his hand tight, and Blaine knew that he understood. They dissolved once again into silence, and Blaine drifted.


	7. Chapter 7

_A really great friend_. The words were echoing inside Kurt’s head as he lay with Blaine securely wrapped in his arms. The pregnant man had fallen asleep some time earlier, but Kurt could not stop the words running through his head.

He had planned on being a really great friend. He could see that Blaine needed someone to talk to, a person who could offer him some comfort in this turbulent time. He liked Blaine a lot, and their easy camaraderie made their friendship so effortless.

He had really tried to be a great friend.

But lying here with Blaine covered so securely by his arms, his hands still resting on his swollen stomach, he knew that he had failed. He no longer wanted to be just a really great friend. Somewhere along this road, Kurt had started falling in love with Blaine.

Of course, the moment that Blaine had uttered those words, the feeling of incompleteness had filled him so rapidly, his head had started spinning. He didn’t want to be just Blaine’s friend. But he couldn’t say that; not now. So instead of taking the risk of opening his mouth and admitting this realization, he had settled for grasping Blaine’s hand in his, and squeezing to show his appreciation of the sentiment. Now, however, he was left with his thoughts, and they were creating a mixed mess in his mind.

He wasn’t in love with Blaine just yet, but it was close. Somewhere along the way, the man’s easy laughter, beautiful eyes, and quiet strength had won him over, and it was the worst possible timing.

Blaine had just experienced a terrible breakup, and he clearly was not over the pain and hurt that his ex had caused him. He was only just getting himself back together, rebuilding his life for himself, and for his baby.

There was the next problem. Blaine was pregnant. Pregnant with another man’s child. He was going through a stressful time trying to adapt to becoming a single parent, and that was going to be a full time job.

Even if he liked Kurt in that way, getting into a new relationship and learning to trust again, along with giving birth and then caring for a newborn was daunting for Kurt just to think about.

A small voice in his head was objecting. _You could help him! He’ll need someone to show him how wonderful he is, and you can help him with the baby._ But getting involved in a new family? How could he ask Blaine to put that trust in him after such a short time together?

And why was he feeling this all of a sudden anyway? Was it because of the baby? Kurt had always wanted a family. It was always an abstract idea in his head, a vague future that he would begin planning when he got a steady boyfriend that he could visualize spending the rest of his life with. Of course, he had never found anyone, so maybe this was his subconscious telling him that he was ready for a family, and Blaine was already half way there, Kurt could just slot right in perfectly. But that wasn’t fair on Blaine; he deserves much more than that.

No, he needed to be very careful of his emotions around Blaine, and think this through. He wouldn’t say anything that would make Blaine uncomfortable around him when he had just told him how much he appreciated him.

Kurt took a shaky breath, and closed his eyes, chasing a sleep that would not come.   

                                                                      

* * *

 

The next day, Kurt and Blaine woke up in the exact same position that they had fallen asleep in, groaning from stiff muscles and, in Kurt’s case, a dead leg. Blaine was a bit embarrassed about their impromptu sleepover, but when Kurt walked to the kitchen and offered to make them breakfast without a trace of awkwardness, Blaine followed his lead and simply fell back into their easy banter.

Kurt decided on fruit salad and pancakes for breakfast after seeing the way Blaine’s eyes lit up at the mere mention of syrupy goodness. He poured himself a large mug of coffee, and offered Blaine a glass of juice.

It wasn’t until Blaine was eating his pancakes with enthusiasm that he noticed Kurt’s gaze on him.

Blaine swallowed delicately, and asked, “What?”

“Excuse me?” Kurt said, his eyes seemingly coming into focus on Blaine’s.

“I know I have syrup everywhere, but your staring is going to give me a complex,” Blaine said, raising an eyebrow. “Avert your eyes until the pancakes are done, and I’ll go back to being a civil member of society.”

Kurt didn’t laugh, and his eyes widened at being caught in his absent minded gazing. The chuckle at Blaine’s teasing came a few seconds too late. Maybe Kurt was also covering up the last few traces of awkwardness, and Blaine reached up and patted his hair self-consciously anyway.

“Is it my hair? I know it goes crazy in the night,” Blaine murmured, but Kurt quickly stopped his actions.

“No, stop!” He then looked oddly embarrassed at his outburst, and said, “No, it looks really cute. The whole pajamas and crazy hair thing. It’s actually really nice.” His sentence grew softer and softer as he reached the end so that Blaine could barely hear him at the end, but he smiled all the same.

“Thanks,” he said shyly. He was a bit confused at this weird change in their dynamic, but Kurt quickly changed the topic to the plans for the day, and when they had both eaten their fill, Kurt walked Blaine to the door so that they could get ready for work.

“So, come over tonight and I’ll cook for you,” Blaine said with a smile. “I’ll return the favor.”

Kurt smiled indulgently, “Blaine, you cooked for me last night too.”

“Yes, and I’ll do it again tonight if you want to come over?” He looked inquiringly at Kurt, who nodded eagerly.

“See you after work.” And with that, Blaine was crossing the hallway, and opening his own door, giving a small wave, and disappearing behind it.

 _Oh god._ Kurt needed help.


	8. Chapter 8

After his revelation the night before, Kurt needed something, anything to help alleviate the mangled mess of thoughts running through his head. For a while he considered phoning Rachel and begging for her advice, but they spoke less and less nowadays, and Kurt knew who he needed to talk to. Kurt pulled his cell phone from his pocket, and pressed his speed dial.

“Dad?”

“Kurt? How’s it going, kid?” It was amazing that even after being on his own for so long, the sound of his father’s gruff voice still brought back all the memories of childhood. Suddenly he felt like he was twelve years old again, and talking to his dad in this state of mind was going to make this even harder. He tried to orient himself.

“Work’s good. They’re talking over this trip to Italy, and one of my spies in the higher offices says they might be asking me to go. It’s not a done deal yet, but it’ll be a huge opportunity if I get it.”

“That’s great, Kurt. I’m real proud of you.”

“Thanks, Dad. How’re things at home?” It was a thing that they did whenever Kurt called his dad; where his dad was would always be home. It reminded Kurt where he was from and stopped him from getting caught up in the big city, and it reminded Burt that Kurt would always be back.

“Everything’s fine here, Kid.” Kurt told himself to relax as his father filled him in on the last week with him and Carole. Eventually, Burt seemed to pick up on his son’s lack of scathing remarks and enquiries about his father’s eating habits.

“What’s wrong, Kurt?” Burt said, and Kurt knew his time to talk had come. “Something going on with you?”

“Dad…” Even after trying to mentally prepare himself, Kurt didn’t know where to begin. He hoped that his father would be able to look at the situation with an open mind and not jump to conclusions before he’d explained. “So, you know Blaine?”

“That guy you’ve been talking about lately? The next door neighbor?” At Kurt’s affirmative, Burt continued, “So you two finally start going out? Is that what you wanted to tell me?”

“What? No, we’re not dating- I mean, he is gay, but we’re just friends.”

Burt made a contemplative noise. “I see. And that’s the problem then? You want to date him.” When Kurt made to interrupt. Burt said, “No, Kurt, come on. I’ve heard more about this guy in the last month than anyone else you’ve met in the city…ever. You like him.”

“Well, yes,” Kurt admitted, but before his dad could say anything else, he said, “But it’s really complicated. He just went through a really bad breakup, and he doesn’t even know that I like him.”

“Well, you gotta let him decide if he’s ready to move on, Kurt. Don’t kill your chances ‘cause you assume he might not be ready.”

“Yeah, but it’s more than that.” Kurt wondered how he was going to say this without coming over like he’d been purposefully withholding information, but couldn’t think of any other way to say it. “He’s pregnant.”

His dad’s reply was measured, and Kurt could tell he was wary. “Kurt.”

“I know, it’s really complicated and really bad timing, but, Dad, he’s so perfect. He got walked out on, and he’s going through the whole pregnancy on his own, but he’s so strong. He’s funny and we laugh all the time, and he cooks for me just as often as I cook for him, and he never fails to help clean up, even when I can see he’s so tired from work and worrying about the baby. And he’s gorgeous, and he loves his baby bump even though I know he feels really self-conscious about it now it’s getting bigger. I didn’t mean to fall for him, Dad, but if things were different I wouldn’t even have thought about letting him slip through my fingers.”

His dad was silent for a while after Kurt ran out of steam and so he took to running his fingers through his hair to work out his nerves. He could feel his carefully sculpted look falling apart under his fingers, but he didn’t stop.

Eventually his dad said, “I don’t know what you want me to say, Kurt. This whole situation is pretty strange. But kid, the heart wants what the heart wants. I know you know what you want outta life, and if this boy’s it, then he must be something special.” Kurt smiled at the fact that his father had gotten that right away.

“He really is, Dad.”

“But, Kurt, you gotta realize a few things before you go telling him anything. He’s going to have a kid to look after. No matter how much he cares about you- no, don’t interrupt, Kurt, he’d be crazy not to love you- no matter how much he cares about you, you’ve gotta realize that you are never going to be his first priority. That’s his kid.

“Being a single parent is about the hardest thing in the world, Kurt. Raising you was the greatest thing I ever did, but it was no easy thing, and I even had your mom to start out with. Can you be okay with the fact that you’ll always have to come second in his life?”

Kurt took a deep breath, and said, “I know it’s going to be hard, but Dad, that’s part of what I love about him. He’s so dedicated to his family and the baby’s not even here yet. He’s going to be a great dad, and I don’t want him to feel like dating me is a burden, or taking away from what he has with his child.”

“That’s real mature of you, Kurt.”

Kurt could tell his dad was proud of his words, but he needed to know, “When you and Carole got married it wasn’t just Carole that became part of your life. What was it like with, you know, taking on Finn? I mean, I was in glee with him so I already knew him, and I was allowed to yell at him in a brotherly way when he pissed me off. But you had to get used to a son that wasn’t really yours. How did you do it?”

Burt heaved a great sigh, but then surprised Kurt by chuckling softly. “Finn’s a good kid, Kurt, and it helped that we had a lot in common. But it wasn’t easy. We had to find equal footing, you see, ‘cause I’m not his dad, and he’s not my real son. But, Kurt, today I don’t see him like that. Eventually it just became easy as anything. Not a whole lot of families are as lucky as we are, especially that you and Finn and Carole all get along like you do. Now he just seems like my kid, and having family like that is really special.”

At one point Kurt might have felt jealous at his father’s affection for Finn, but those days were long gone with the insecurities of his teen years. Now he could see his father’s honesty in what to expect from a relationship with not just Blaine, but Blaine’s child.

“Here’s what I say, Kurt. How long is that work trip thing you’re going on?”

“Two weeks, but that’s only if I get it.”

“Maybe that time away will be good for you to clear your head. Get away from the situation a bit, and when you get back you’ll have a better idea of what you’re getting yourself into.”

That was an idea. If he went and got some separation from Blaine, maybe he would be able to see if he could handle being away from him. The idea of leaving him for two weeks was already a daunting one, but if it helped him get to the bottom of what he was feeling…

“Thanks, Dad.”

“No problem, Kid. But I want regular updates on this, okay? Let me know how this plays out.” Kurt smiled indulgently at his father’s words even though he was more grateful for his father’s acceptance than he could possibly say.

“Will do. Now, let me say hello to Carole.”

“Okay, hang on. Love you, Kid.”

“Love you, Dad.”


	9. Chapter 9

It was only a week later when Kurt got the news. Even though his spies on the upper levels had told him he was a shoe in, he was still surprised when his boss called him in and told him he would be flying to Italy for two weeks.

It was only later that he realized that the first person he wanted to call about the news was Blaine.

He rushed back to his building that evening and didn’t even bother stopping off at his own apartment to drop off his bag, heading straight to Blaine’s.

Kurt knocked loudly on Blaine’s door, and it was opened moments later by Blaine wearing an expectant expression. “Hey, you’re late tonight. Long day at work?”

“They gave me the job, a really great job for a show next week. That’s why I’m late; they called me in to tell me!”

Blaine pulled Kurt into the apartment and into a great hug. “That’s great, Kurt!” Kurt tried not to be disappointed when he pulled away a second later and ushered him into the kitchen. “What’s the job?”

“I’ll just be a representative for my company at the show, but I’ll be right in the middle of it all; an up  and coming designer, all the preparations and parties!”

“That’s great, Kurt,” Blaine said sincerely, giving him a huge smile.

Kurt tried to reign in some of his enthusiasm as he watched Blaine’s reaction. He seemed so genuinely happy for Kurt, but that didn’t help him enough.

“Oh, there’s another thing,” Kurt added, looking closely at Blaine’s face to gage his reaction. “It’s in Italy. I’ll be in Florence for two weeks.”

Kurt couldn’t help the hope he felt in his chest at Blaine’s deflated look.

“Oh,” Blaine said, sadly. “I’ll really miss you, Kurt. It’ll be weird not having you over every night.” Kurt felt a thrill at the words, before Blaine added, “But you’re only leaving next week, so I’ve got some time before I’ve got to let you go.”

Kurt’s insides fluttered as Blaine gave him a wink, and started talking about all the great things was bound to experience. But Kurt could only think that this trip couldn’t have come at a better time. Every day he was finding it harder to be around Blaine without revealing his feelings. While his excitement over the trip was so strong only moments before, there was a tight feeling that was slowly but surely taking over his chest at the thought of leaving Blaine behind.

* * *

 

The bright lights of the fashion show were blinding as Kurt leaned back in his seat, not allowing his face to show the incredible excitement he felt as the models walked down the runway. So far his trip had been incredibly successful for his company; his efficient nature and easy knowledge of the incoming trends had certainly impressed. He knew that his boss was going to be thrilled.

But the car ride back to his hotel was long, and with his thoughts allowed to wander for more than a minute, they returned to where he had tried to keep them from for the last two weeks.

Though his trip had been so full of amazing sights, food, and fashion, the glamorous parties that Kurt had lived for in the past couldn’t hold his focus. He had passed on the show’s after party, choosing to catch up on the sleep he had missed the night before in preparation for the show.

The car dropped him outside his hotel, and he thanked the driver before heading inside. By the time he finally reached his room, Kurt barely had the energy to finish his night time routine.

He couldn’t help the sigh that escaped him as he finally pulled himself into bed. With his mind finally calm, he allowed his thoughts to drift to Blaine. He thought of what Blaine might be doing at that moment, taking a moment to work out the time difference between them. His mind brought up a picture of Blaine returning home from work, his hand on his baby bump as it so often was these days, moving around his apartment, maybe wondering what Kurt was doing, maybe missing Kurt as much as Kurt was missing him.

Despite all the beauty in Florence, it just didn’t hold a candle to what he saw in Blaine.

Kurt turned his pillow and put his cheek to the cool fabric.

When he fell asleep his dreams included a kind-eyed man and a child, a small replica of the man, running through the streets of Florence, just out of his reach.  

* * *

 

By the time his plane left the ground three days later, after the final closing statements and goodbyes, Kurt knew that it was inevitable.

He hadn’t meant to, but he’d started falling in love with Blaine and there was no going back. The last two weeks had seemed an eternity without the simple ease of Blaine’s company. Kurt thought back over his father’s words and knew that he had to do. And so Kurt did it.

He thought of telling Blaine of his feelings, of finally admitting how he couldn’t stop the thoughts of them together from rushing through his head without boundaries; holding Blaine’s hand, tracing Blaine’s shoulders, kissing Blaine’s lips. He thought of what would happen if Blaine could not accept him. How he would have to return to his feelings of simple friendship and force himself to stop the traitorous thoughts he knew he’d have to overcome. Then he thought of what would happen if Blaine felt the same way.

Blaine, with his child, his first priority, and how that would affect their relationship.

Kurt continued thinking as the plane flew steadily closer to home, and by the time his plane had landed, Kurt knew that his path had been set.


	10. Chapter 10

Blaine readjusted the grocery bags that he was trying to keep hold of as he attempted to extricate his key from his pocket. It might have been easier to just put the bags on the ground to open his front door, but that would surely be conceding defeat. He had finally gotten the key from the pocket of his jeans, when the choice was taken from him. The bags he was holding were taken out of his arms and placed on the ground at his feet, and he caught a glimpse of chestnut hair before he found himself wrapped in a tight hug.

It was amazing how quickly his heart seemed to melt at the wordless embrace.

“Hey, stranger,” Blaine said, tightening his own arms around Kurt. “How was your trip?”

“It was amazing and cultural and life-changing, but I am never leaving ever again.”

Blaine couldn’t help the laughter that escaped him. “I missed you, too. Now, take your luggage to your place, and I’ll get these groceries, and then come and tell me all about your trip.”

Kurt released Blaine, and stood back with a huge smile on his face, but his eyes immediately dropped to Blaine’s stomach. “You got bigger!”

Blaine’s own eyes dropped to his stomach and he put a hand on the bump, which was quite noticeably larger. “Yeah, you missed a growth spurt, hey? I mean, I do get bigger all the time. I guess when you see me every day it seems more gradual. But think of how much bigger I am now than when we first met.”

Kurt tried to picture Blaine on the day that he had carried the crib up the stairs, and was surprised at the image of Blaine that came to mind. It was quite different to the Blaine that stood in front of him.

“Wow, you’re right, I kind of forget that this little guy keeps growing. He invaded Blaine’s space to put a hand on his stomach, but Blaine only smiled at Kurt’s action.

“You’ve only ever known me pregnant; imagine how hard it is for me,” Blaine said, with a role of his eyes. “I used to be able to wear jeans that weren’t made of elastic, you know.”

Kurt laughed and said, “I know, I’ve seen photographic evidence in your apartment. Why do you think I’m allowing the fashion faux pas now?”

“Why, thank you,” Blaine replied, his voice full of condescension, and Kurt couldn’t help but laugh. “Now, get your bags inside, and then come over, because you need to regale us homebodies with your stories of wonder and travel.

Kurt hurried into his own apartment, and put his suitcase on the bed to be unpacked later, changed his flight wrinkled shirt for a fresh one, and then made his way back into the hallway. Blaine’s door had been left slightly ajar for him, and so he slipped inside and shut it behind him.

Blaine was in the kitchen, pouring hot water into two mugs, coffee for Kurt, and herbal tea for himself. When he saw Kurt walking into the kitchen he passed him the mug, and gestured towards the living room.

Kurt told Blaine all about his trip as they sipped from their mugs, Blaine being the perfect audience for his outlandish stories of the Italian fashion world. Blaine was still laughing at Kurt’s words when Kurt asked about what he had missed.

“Here? Nothing much,” Blaine answered, looking thoughtful as he tried to think of an interesting occurrence in the time that Kurt had been gone. “Sam’s been over quite a bit; he’s trying to stop me from becoming a hermit, but he also doesn’t quite understand that I can’t exactly go to bars with him anymore. So we’ve been hanging out in the park mostly.”

“That’s nice,” Kurt said, “How is he?”

“Good, but right now he’s been on a mission to get me to reevaluate my baby name choice. He’s been informing me of the merits of calling him Sam. Solid name, apparently,” Blaine said, with a role of the eyes.

“You all still seem pretty convinced it’s a boy; maybe he should be selling you on Sami.”

“Ah, but I know. Special abilities, remember?” Blaine said, pointing to himself in a proud display. “Anyway, you’ll all see tomorrow though. I will accept all praise after my doctor’s appointment.”

“You’re finding out the sex tomorrow?” Blaine nodded. “Who’s going with you to the appointment? Sam? Or Tina?”

Blaine looked a bit confused, “No one,” he said. “I’m going by myself.”

Blaine did not expect Kurt’s reply to be quite so vehement. “What? But, Blaine! You can’t go by yourself!”

Blaine looked a bit offended at Kurt’s words, and said, “I went to my other appointments by myself and I’ve been totally fine.”

“No, but this is a big deal, don’t you want someone to be excited for you? Moral support?” Kurt asked.

Blaine laughed at Kurt’s reaction, but was slightly subdued in his response. “I’ll be fine Kurt. My friends are excited for me, it doesn’t mean I need them to hold my hand through this.”

“Okay,” Kurt said. He understood that Blaine wanted to know that he could do it all alone; needed the affirmation that he was capable. At the same time, he wanted to be there to show him that he didn’t need to be alone if he didn’t want to be.

Blaine seemed to have picked up on Kurt’s dilemma, because he looked very touched. His eyes drew together and he smiled softly at Kurt. When he spoke, it was in an honestly curious voice.

“Kurt, do you want to come to my doctor’s appointment with me tomorrow? It probably won’t be very fun for you, a lot of waiting rooms and watching a lady poke my stomach. But you’ll know the sex of the baby before Sam, and you can probably hold that over his head for many years to come.”

Kurt smiled hugely and said, “Yes, I’ll come with you. What time are we leaving?”

When Kurt returned to his apartment later that evening to shower and sleep of the jet lag, he knew in his heart that the trip had proven exactly what he hoped it would. Even surrounded by people he had looked up to his whole life in an amazing European city, nothing felt better than returning home to see Blaine.

Next door, however, Blaine was just beginning to wonder why Kurt being back had made his apartment seem more like home than it had in two weeks.


	11. Chapter 11

The next day, Kurt knocked on Blaine’s door at ten thirty exactly and, at a call from Blaine, he opened the door to let himself in.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” came Blaine’s voice from through his open bedroom door.

“No problem, I’ll make myself at home,” Kurt replied, dropping onto the sofa to wait.

“Funny,” Blaine said, as he walked out of his room, shoes in hand. “You say that like you don’t pretty much live here anyway.”

Kurt raised a judging eyebrow and said, “I was following polite social norms, Blaine.”

“We’re a bit past that, aren’t we?” Blaine asked with a warm smile, awkwardly lifting a leg onto the couch to get him shoe on.

“Oh my god, what are you doing?” Kurt asked, looking at Blaine’s display on the couch.

“It’s hard for me to lean down nowadays. Trust me, it’s easier this way.”

Kurt’s laughter at Blaine’s weird look continued, even when it proved quite successful and Blaine gave him a smug look.

Shoes on, Blaine led Kurt out of the apartment, and they made their way to the doctor’s office. On the way, Kurt was asking Blaine what normally happened in the appointments.

“Well, she’ll ask me a bunch of questions about how the pregnancy’s been going since she last saw me. I get on this table thing, and she does the ultra-sound and I get to see the baby. The first couple of times she had to point him out to me, but he’s pretty hard to miss at this stage, so you probably won’t have a problem seeing him. She, um,” Blaine looked a bit uncomfortable at this point, but continued after a few seconds as if there had been no pause. “She knows about Connor leaving and so she always asks me how I’m doing on my own, and my stress levels and stuff. And talks to me about what I need to know about how to be a single dad to a newborn.”

“You like her though, don’t you?” Kurt asked knowingly.

“I really do.”

When they reached the office, Blaine led the way into the waiting room, and Kurt took a seat while Blaine let the receptionist know that they had arrived. They flicked through a magazine companionably until a woman with thick black braids and a white doctor’s coat called Blaine’s name.

She smiled kindly at Blaine, and if she was surprised at Kurt’s presence behind him, she did not show it. She opened the door to the office and directed them to their seats before settling behind her desk.

The doctor proceeded to ask Blaine questions that, by the sounds of the answers he gave, were fairly routine. Kurt tried to keep a politely disinterested expression on his face, even when he wanted to balk as Blaine discussed some of his more horrible pregnancy related afflictions. Blaine rarely complained about his pregnancy symptoms that weren’t food related, so it surprised Kurt to hear that Blaine had been suffering in silence about his back pain, swollen limbs, and various other problems. He made a mental note to bring that up at a later point, and to try to keep Blaine off his feet from this point onwards.

When that part of the appointment was over, however, the doctor turned her gaze to Kurt, but spoke to Blaine. “We should move on to the physical examination. Is your friend going to remain in the room for this?” Kurt noticed that her voice had changed to accommodate the tiniest amount of coolness to her tone. The inflection that she gave the word _friend_ ,however, was what clued Kurt into what the doctor was thinking; she must have assumed that he was the other father obviously having changed his mind about staying out of his child’s life. Blaine seemed to have gotten this too, because he spoke with a firmness as if answering an unasked question.  

“Oh no, this is Kurt,” he said, placing a hand on Kurt’s shoulder. “He’s a friend. He was absolutely adamant that I needed moral support for this appointment and graciously volunteered himself.” Blaine’s tone was teasing, but as the doctor regarded Kurt, he could see the new approval and appreciation in her gaze. She gave him a smile, which he returned.

With that, she motioned for Blaine to undress behind a large white curtain, handing him a paper shirt to put on instead to protect his clothing. Kurt adamantly avoided even glancing in the direction of the rustling fabric or the doctor’s calm face. When Blaine called out that he was ready, he was already lying on the table and motioned for Kurt to stand beside his head.

As the doctor rucked up Blaine’s gown to show his distended belly, Kurt could feel Blaine’s obvious discomfort at having Kurt see his stomach. His eyes kept glancing up at Kurt’s face, as if looking for a sign of embarrassment or disgust, but Kurt just offered Blaine a comforting smile, and looked toward the small monitor on which he knew the picture would soon appear.

Kurt had seen this scene mirrored many times on television and in movies, but the reactions to the sight on the screen gave him no warning of the feelings that rose up inside of him as the image flashed to life.

It was dark and constantly shifting with the movement of the wand, but the image was unmistakable. Kurt was captivated by the baby on the screen. A baby who he had felt through the barrier of Blaine’s body, kicking and hiccoughing and growing with every passing day.

He could feel Blaine’s eyes on him, but it took him a few seconds before he could tear his eyes from the screen. When he did look at Blaine, he couldn’t believe the strength of the emotions inside of him. So many feelings, but all bright and clear as day; amazement, admiration, breathlessness, and love. The latter grew and grew as he stared into Blaine’s eyes, and he felt sure that Blaine must be able to see it plainly in his expression, but his attention was called away at the doctor’s next words.

“So, the baby’s decided to work with us this time, Blaine. Do you still want to know the sex?” she asked, freezing the image on the screen.

For a man who claimed he was certain he knew, Blaine’s look of excitement and wonder was great as he answered in the affirmative.

“It’s a boy.”

Blaine’s smile was huge as he turned to look at Kurt.

“I told you.” But his eyes were filling with tears, his smile ready to split.

“I’ll give you a moment. When you’re ready, Blaine, you can get dressed, and I’ll see about getting you a sonogram picture.”

Kurt didn’t watch as the doctor left the room, Blaine thanking her as she did. When he turned back to Kurt, he said, “Oliver. I was right, huh?”

Kurt intended to say something along the lines of _you knew you would be_ , or _congratulations_ , or _you’re amazing_. But what happened was something that Kurt didn’t plan or even give himself time to think about. He bent over Blaine where he lay on the table, and pressed their lips together.

Kurt felt warmth, the softness of Blaine’s lips against his own, and the unmistakable feeling of _right_ that came over him. Then he felt a squeak of shock coming from between Blaine’s lips, and pulled back quickly. He couldn’t move; frozen, waiting for Blaine’s reaction.

Blaine was staring at Kurt with a look of shock on his face, and slowly, he raised his fingers to press against his lips as if checking that they were still there.


	12. Chapter 12

Kurt had just kissed him. Kissed him. While he lay half naked in a doctor’s office, with his belly covered in goo. But now he was standing back with an adorable deer in the headlights expression, waiting for Blaine to say something, but no words were coming to him right now.

Kurt was his best friend. He had helped him over and over again, acting as his closest confidant, making him laugh, adding an ease to Blaine’s life that he had been so badly needing. And Blaine knew Kurt was incredibly attractive; how could he not notice when the first time they met Kurt’s muscles had been straining through his shirt as he carried a heavy box up two flights of stairs. But Blaine had never thought for a second that Kurt might be thinking about him in any way that was more than friendship. Blaine was off the market; not taken, but as good as while he carried the evidence of his last relationship for all to see. No one wanted to get involved in this mess. Dating a man who was pregnant and recently single; raising a newborn that wasn’t their own. Stepping into an already formed family? That was a lot to ask of a new relationship, and Blaine had never envisioned it for himself. As his plans changed to include a baby, they stopped including a partner.

But Kurt was standing in front of him with his eyes full of guilt and a glimmer of hope, and Blaine could so clearly see a future that included them all together; Kurt cradling his son, kissing Blaine’s cheek as he passed, and Blaine allowing himself to feel this emotion he was keeping suppressed inside him while he waited for a better time to love.

Before he allowed himself that, though, he had to know that Kurt would be in it for the long haul, and that he knew what he was getting himself into. He had refused to make concessions that would hurt his son in the past, and he would not start now. Kurt had to know that it would not just be Blaine involved, but an innocent child that would be hurt if he changed his mind.

“We need to talk,” Blaine said, lowering his hand from his lips as he said it. He could feel the last traces of the kiss leaving his lips, and he longed to press his lips to Kurt’s again, but he would not allow himself.

“Blaine, I-” Kurt began, but Blaine interrupted him.

“Not here. At home, maybe. Will you come to my place?” Blaine asked.

Kurt nodded, then pointed to the door. “I’ll wait for you outside, then,” and without waiting for a response, he rushed out through the door, leaving Blaine alone with his thoughts.

Blaine dressed quickly, and met Doctor Harrison to finish his appointment. When he reached the waiting room, he gestured for Kurt to follow him outside. They walked in silence back to the apartment, the silence tangible and the space between them larger than their close proximity should allow.

When Blaine unlocked the door and led the way inside, Kurt began talking immediately.

“I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have sprung that on you like that,” he said, keeping his distance from Blaine as if trying not to startle him, but speaking in a slightly desperate tone. “It’s just that you looked so amazing, and I was so moved by everything that I saw today, and I’ve been wanting to kiss you for so long. I didn’t even think-” but Blaine had to interrupt at that.

“You’ve wanted to kiss me for a while?” Blaine asked, an incredulous note entering his voice at the idea. When? When had Kurt been thinking of his lips and Blaine had not even realized? Was he that oblivious?

“Yes,” Kurt answered, who seemed to have missed the look on Blaine’s face, and was looking more nervous by the second. “But I know that it’s a bad time, and you have other things to deal with, and even if you didn’t, you might not even want me in the first place.”

“Of course I do.” The words were out of Blaine’s mouth before he could think, but even as he said them he knew they were right.

Kurt looked up so suddenly he must have hurt his neck. Blaine continued quickly, “I’d be so lucky to have you, Kurt, and I wouldn’t have paused for a second if it wasn’t for Oliver.” At this, a look of disappointment came over Kurt’s face.

“Yes, I understand.”

Blaine knew he didn’t and was taking this as a swift rejection, so he continued, “I need to know that you know what you’re signing up for if you want a relationship with me. That’s what we need to talk about.”

Kurt nodded but looked incredulous that Blaine was not brushing him off. Blaine made a movement indicating that they should sit down. The both lowered themselves into chairs facing each other, and Blaine took a deep breath.

“I’m having a baby, Kurt. I always knew that I wanted a family, a proper family, and I never wanted a fling. I have to think of what will be good for Oliver, and right for me.” Blaine stopped for moment, then captured Kurt’s gaze with his own, not letting him look away. “You’re also my best friend. I don’t want to screw this up. So if you haven’t really thought this through and we start something and then you change your mind…” Blaine trailed off as he tried to make his feelings known, but Kurt seemed to understand.

“Blaine, please don’t think of this as a whim I had in that moment. I’ve wanted this for a while, I just didn’t know how to let you know without freaking you out, or causing more drama for you to deal with. When I spoke to my dad-”

“You told your dad?”

“Yes. I had to talk about this with someone, and it couldn’t be you. Anyway, he told me that I had to be sure of my feelings first, and so I spent my whole trip to Italy getting some distance and trying to clear my head. But Blaine, I knew then that I couldn’t stay away from you. The moment I got back I wanted to tell you, but not the way I did. I wanted it to be romantic. And I wanted to let you know how much I care for you, and how I want to be a part of your life in any way you would have me.”

Blaine felt breathless. This perfect man was saying the most wonderful things to him, and all he wanted to do was agree to all the things that Kurt was saying, but he had to be cautious.

“It would be really hard,” he whispered, keeping his eyes on the table. “I wouldn’t be able to do all the things people in a new relationship can do. And my son will always come first. How can I tell you to wait around while I find my footing with a new baby?”

“Blaine, you’re not asking me to do anything. I’m offering,” Kurt answered, and Blaine could see the sincerity in his eyes. “I’m not the most patient person in the world, but let me try. We can work this out together.”

Blaine took a moment to think of anything else that might be standing in their way, and problems and fights and echoes of past hurt flashed through his mind, but despite that, he knew that he had already made his decision.

“We have to take it slow,” he said, and Kurt’s face lit up with a huge smile and Blaine returned it with only a little hesitancy.

“Of course,” Kurt agreed immediately. “But I can ask you out properly, right?”

Blaine’s smile grew and he nodded his head.

“Blaine, will you join me for dinner tonight? As a date?”

“Yes, I will,” Blaine replied, surprised at how quickly he was falling into their easy camaraderie once more. “Your place?”

“Nope,” Kurt replied at once. “I’m taking you out. I’ll pick you up at seven.” And with that, he got up and made his way towards the door, but Blaine quickly followed, an idea forming in his mind, not allowing any space for second guessing.

He grabbed Kurt’s hand before he could walk through the open door, and Kurt looked around at him again. His eyes widened in surprise when Blaine leant in and placed a chaste kiss against his lips.

When Blaine pulled back, Kurt’s eyes were unfocused and Blaine couldn’t help the exhale that left him at the feeling of rightness that overtook him. “Okay,” Blaine said, and he couldn’t be sure if he was answering Kurt’s earlier statement or mouthing the feeling that was overtaking him.

It was a few seconds before Kurt unsteadily made his way out of the apartment, and Blaine shut the door firmly behind him, hiding the wide grin that immediately took over his face.


	13. Chapter 13

Kurt arrived at Blaine’s door at seven exactly.

After Kurt had left Blaine’s apartment earlier that day, instead of going home he walked (not skipped) to the nearest flower shop where he could buy Blaine a large bouquet. He called and made reservations for dinner as he walked, and then rushed home, bouquet in hand without the slightest hint of embarrassment at the large display. On arriving home, he planned his outfit meticulously, hopped in the shower, and styled his hair to perfection. He was dressed and ready, bouquet in hand, and about to step out of the door when he checked the time on his cell phone display.

It was five thirty.

He replaced the flowers in their water, and flopped onto the couch to wait. He sat in silence for a few moments, then absent mindedly flicked on the television, but the rerun playing could not hold his attention, and flicking through the channels seemed like too much effort. He picked up his phone, and made to type out a message to Blaine, but stopped himself. He could manage like an adult and wait to see him, but the excitement of finally getting a date with Blaine made Kurt want to squeal in an embarrassing way, and he reveled in the feeling.

He sat impatiently as the time dragged by, and when he knocked on Blaine’s door later, he was exactly on time.

Blaine opened the door, and Kurt was once again struck by that giddiness. He looked amazing. He had obviously taken time in choosing his outfit, something that Blaine had told him was becoming more and more difficult to manage while remaining somewhat fashionable, as his supply of clothes became more limited and his bump harder to accommodate. But he looked amazing in a dark blue dress shirt covered by a lighter colored vest over the top. Blaine had taken the time to gel his hair, something he had been doing less and less as his pregnancy progressed and sapped his energy from him. He smiled broadly as he saw Kurt, almost hidden by the large display of flowers.

“Hi,” Blaine said, pausing in his doorway.

“Hi,” Kurt returned. “These are for you,” he added, thrusting the flowers at Blaine, who took them with a sound of appreciation.

“They’re so beautiful; you didn’t have to do that.” He moved back into the apartment, and started looking for a vase for them, leaving the door open for Kurt to follow him inside.

It was strange; Kurt had been inside Blaine’s apartment so many times that despite the new layer of complexity to their relationship, it was so ordinary and comforting. Like they were simply hanging out in Blaine’s kitchen like they always did.

It made it easier when Blaine asked about his day as he filled the vase with water, as if Kurt had come over after work as usual.

They chatted until Blaine’s flowers were in their water and placed on the kitchen table. Then Blaine raised an inquiring eyebrow, and Kurt said, “Shall we?”

They strolled towards the restaurant without hurry, and Kurt was pleased to note that  the conversation flowed as smoothly as it always did, despite the newness of the atmosphere surrounding them. Kurt was overly conscious of the space between their hands as they walked side by side, but tried to ignore it. 

When they arrived at the restaurant, Kurt gave his name to the hostess for their reservation and she gestured for them to follow her.

When they were seated, Blaine picked up his menu and began looking through the options. Kurt suddenly felt slightly nervous at the formality of the situation, and briefly entertained the idea that he should have picked an extreme date idea. One that a man half way through his second trimester of pregnancy could participate in, of course, but something that would give him an excuse for the adrenaline running through his body.

He mimicked Blaine’s actions, and skimmed through his own menu.

The silence was broken by a waitress who took their drink orders before leaving them again.

“It’s weird,” Blaine said, after a moment. “By now we should have started on the typical first date conversation, but you already know so much about me.”

“Yeah,” Kurt agreed. “’What do you do for a living?’ and then, ‘Where are you from?’”

“And if you’re lucky,” Blaine added, grinning now, “They have enough to say on that to get you through dinner. Then if it goes well, during dessert you can ask the oh, so important, ‘What are your aspirations for the future?’”

Kurt let out a snort. “That’s a much better way of phrasing it. One time I got, ‘So, where do you see yourself in ten years?’ I felt like I was at a job interview.”

Blaine laughed, and shook his head. “Maybe it’s better we got that out of the way before now. Now we can get to know each other in different ways.”

“Like how?” Kurt asked, tilting his head.

Blaine thought for just a second before asking, “Favorite color?”

“Purple,” Kurt answered, catching on immediately.

“Green,” Blaine said.

“Favorite flavor ice cream?” Kurt asked.

“Before I got pregnant it was strawberry, but now I only want chocolate cookie. You?”

“Salted caramel, unless it’s a bad day and then I eat a whole tub of plain chocolate.”

“Favorite breed of dog?” Blaine asked, but Kurt started laughing, breaking their pace.

“No one’s ever asked me that before; I don’t know.”

Blaine looked outraged. “No, Kurt, you need to have a favorite type of dog! You can tell a lot about a person by what type of dogs they like!”

“What about cat people?” Kurt asked delicately.

“Kuuurt. Play the game.”

“Okay,” Kurt thought for a moment and then said, “A spaniel, like Lady from Lady and the Tramp. Very sophisticated. You?”

Blaine responded immediately, “Any dog as long as I can get a dog.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “If you want a dog, why don’t you get one?”

“Connor was allergic, and I’m worried about a new dog around the baby. Maybe when he gets a bit older, and I get a place with more space.” Blaine looked wistful, and Kurt couldn’t help the smile that took over his face.

They were interrupted by their waitress coming to take their orders, but the conversation rolled on immediately after her departure.

During dessert, Blaine asked, with a curious expression on his face, “Do you actually know my aspirations for the future?” 

Kurt dropped his fork, and ticked off on his fingers, “Start a music program for your students, learn to bake cheesecake, be a great dad,” after a moment he added, “Get a dog.”

Blaine looked dazed for a moment, but then returned to his dessert with a small smile on his face.

As they walked back towards their apartment, Kurt didn’t hesitate and laced his fingers through Blaine’s and, with a soft smile when Blaine caught his eye, he gave it a squeeze. When they reached the hallway between their apartments, Blaine gave him a look.

“Do you want to do the traditional goodnight now? Because it’s actually quite early, and you’re normally over much later than this anyway. So... come in?”

Kurt gave a laugh and said, “Yes, that sounds better.”

Blaine unlocked the door and added, “I wasn’t really ready for this to end just yet.”

Kurt felt as if he could run a marathon.

Blaine offered to make them both something to drink, but before Kurt could take his usual seat at the kitchen table, Blaine was ushering him into the living room to pick out a movie that they could watch.

He picked out a random romantic comedy, and put it on while he waited, the starting menu playing on a loop. His nerves returned a bit as he sat on the couch, and when Blaine joined him he was happy for the distraction of the movie.

Blaine reached out a few minutes into the movie and took Kurt’s hand in his, and though their eyes never left the screen, Blaine’s thumb traced faint patterns on the back of Kurt’s hand. Kurt’s heart was pounding all the while.

When the movie ended, Blaine walked Kurt to the door, their hands still intertwined. Kurt was too distracted to think of anything besides how happy he felt at that moment, but apparently Blaine was not, because he said, “When I woke up this morning I really had no idea that this would happen. That we would end up here.” He was grinning as he said it, and Kurt had to suppress a laugh as he added, “Me neither.”

“What are you doing tomorrow?” Blaine asked as he opened the door.

“Coming over?” Kurt answered, and he was sure that Blaine knew he would anyway. They had been spending their weekends together for a while now regardless.

Blaine smiled, and then he was saying, “Goodnight, Kurt.”

Kurt tilted his head down, bringing his free hand to cup Blaine’s cheek and pressed their lips together. He intended it to be a quick goodnight kiss, but Blaine sighed into the pressure, his lips parted, and Kurt took that as an invitation to deepen their kiss.

He could feel electricity running through his veins, the skin of his lips somehow more sensitive than they ever were before and when they pulled apart, Kurt could feel a flush on his cheeks.

He took a steadying breath and said, “Goodnight, Blaine.”

When he reached his own apartment, he did not even attempt to stop the huge smile that covered his face.


	14. Chapter 14

The next few weeks passed in an excited flurry for both Kurt and Blaine. Though they knew each other so well, the newness of their relationship now made every touch different and sent thrills down spines. They went on more dates, learning new sides to each other as they wooed and allowed their romantic sides to emerge.

Their physical relationship, however, had not progressed past the handholding and goodnight kisses that they shared. Kurt was perfectly happy to take things at any pace that Blaine decided to set, but he was apparently content to stay just as they were. This precedent was making Kurt weary of appearing to forward now that their relationship had new connotations for every little touch, and Kurt was finding it difficult to pull back from their earlier contact.

When they were just friends, it was easy for Kurt to touch Blaine without it seeming presumptuous in any way, and Kurt had often taken advantage of this despite the fact that he wasn’t a very touchy feely person in general. Blaine seemed to take no notice if Kurt put an arm around his shoulders or cuddled up to him, and Kurt had felt Blaine’s baby bump many times once the baby had started kicking. He loved being able to feel the movement inside Blaine, and it always made Blaine smile when he did it. Now, however, he didn’t want to give Blaine the wrong idea, so he kept his distance.

Even with his reservations, Kurt had never been happier in a relationship.

Blaine was hanging out at Kurt’s apartment on a Saturday and they had just finished lunch when they heard a knock on the door.

“Hang on a second,” Kurt said to Blaine, as he went to answer the door, “I wasn’t expecting anyone.”

He opened the door to reveal Sam, a grin on his face as he said, “Hey, Kurt. Blaine’s here, isn’t he?”

“Um, yes,” Kurt responded, moving aside to let Sam in. How did you-?”

“If he’s not at his place these days, chances are he’s at yours. So you guys wanna hang for a bit?”

“Sam?” Blaine’s surprise was evident in his voice.

“Hey, man. You haven’t been around much lately, thought I’d drop in and see how everything’s going. How’s my godson?” He dropped onto the couch beside Blaine.

Blaine rolled his eyes and said, “We’re all good thanks, Sam.”

Sam grinned, then turned his attention to Kurt. “So, Kurt, what you been up to lately?”

“Um, just getting back into the rhythm of things at work after my trip,” _and spending all of my time with my new boyfriend_. Kurt didn’t want to add that last part though, because the way Blaine was averting his eyes made it clear that he had not mentioned the shift in their relationship to his friend.

So Kurt allowed the conversation to flow comfortably. Sam led the topics with little effort, his natural enthusiasm shining through as he spoke about anything and everything in rapid succession. Blaine was joining in a discussion now, though Kurt couldn’t tell you what it was about if he tried because it seemed that Sam and Blaine were speaking in another language, but the way that Blaine was gesturing wildly around before breaking down into giggles had Kurt blind to the world around him.

He was adorable, smiling and laughing with Sam, and then he caught Kurt’s eye and bit down on his bottom lip shyly and looked away as he realized Kurt was staring, and wow, that was really hot. Kurt was so preoccupied with trying to analyze that look, and his own unexpected reaction to that look, that he missed the confused glances that Sam was casting between them.

“Hey, Kurt, man, are you okay?” he said, giving Kurt a weird look, and Kurt tried to read the expression that was on his own face, before hastily offering Sam a smile.

“Yeah, I’m great, why?” Kurt said in a would-be-casual voice.

“Nothing, just-” but then he let out a huge gasp, and his head flipped around to look at Blaine, who kept his expression of nonchalance for about a second before he failed. His cheeks went red and he recoiled a bit, waiting for Sam to put it together.

“Oh my god, you guys are totally doing it! Blaine, why didn’t you say something? I’m cockblocking and I didn’t even know.” Sam seemed a bit shocked at that, but recovered enough to raise a hand to high five Blaine, saying, “Nice one, man.”

“Sam!” Blaine’s exclamation was oddly high pitched. “We’ve started dating, yes, but we’re taking it slow, and you’re not, um, cockblocking anything.”

“Yeah, sure man, I get it,” Sam said, winking at him.

Kurt, meanwhile, tried to look unobtrusive and moved backwards to allow their conversation to go on as if he were not there. 

Blaine looked slightly confused at Sam’s reaction, and after a pause said, “I would have told you sooner, but I didn’t know how you’d react to me dating again.” He looked down at his stomach as if to illustrate his point, but Sam just gave him a fondly long-suffering look and said, “Dude, I think it’s great. If you’re happy, I’m happy for you.”

Blaine’s eyes were shining now, but he merely said, “Thanks, Sam.”

Sam turned his attention to Kurt next, who smiled nervously. “Don’t hurt him, okay? I won’t give you the threatening speech, but I can guarantee you’ll get one from Tina.”

Kurt looked wary at that, and Blaine grimaced.

“Right, Sam, um, can you maybe not mention this to Tina just yet? I’ll tell her, but she can be a little-” he broke off awkwardly, but Sam gave him a knowing look.

“You got it, man. I’ll keep it quiet.” He mimed locking his lips with an invisible key, and then stood up and moved towards the door. “I won’t keep you two apart any longer,” he said dramatically, “Anyway, I’ve got places to be, people to see.” And with a wave, he shut the door behind him.

“Well.” Blaine was looking at Kurt with an expression that clearly said he was trying to hide his smile. “Everyone will know in about an hour.”

Kurt was curious though, “Are you okay with that?”

Blaine shrugged as Kurt took the seat beside him and took hold of his hand. “I was worried about their reactions to me dating. I know that some people will question my priorities, but-“ he broke off and caught Kurt’s eye, “You make me really happy. I want those people who care about me to know it.”

Kurt showed his appreciation for his words by leaning forwards and pressing hip lips firmly to Blaine’s. After a few seconds he pulled back again.

“You make me really happy, too.”

Blaine’s answering smile was beautiful. “I’m glad, because my friends are quite protective of me, you know.”

Kurt grinned. “Well, here’s hoping my boyfriend will be protective of me.”

“Oh, he is.” And with that, Blaine connected their lips once more.


	15. Chapter 15

A few weeks later, Kurt came home from a long day at work and went straight to his boyfriend’s apartment. Blaine greeted him at the door with a chaste kiss. Blaine had already eaten, so they moved to the couch so that they could watch a movie while Kurt ate his dinner.

Blaine’s movie choice was a hard to follow fantasy story, and Kurt found himself concentrating more on his food than the plot. When he returned from taking his empty plate to the kitchen, Blaine pulled him close so that they could cuddle while watching the movie.

Kurt supposed that this was quite typical boyfriend behavior, but he could help but notice that this was the most direct contact that they had been in for several weeks. His body was thrumming with tension from their close contact, and he hesitantly put an arm around Blaine’s shoulders, hoping he would not stiffen or reject his touch.

All Blaine did was let out a content sounding sigh and burrowed closer into Kurt’s embrace.

It wasn’t that Blaine had been rejecting Kurt’s movements per se, but Kurt had taken the hint when Blaine had put more distance between them than usual since they had started dating. Now Kurt was wondering whether he might have misread the situation.

He had tried his hardest not to seem too forward in their relationship when Blaine had clearly stated that he wanted to keep things slow, and Kurt was sure that he had seen a flash of something in Blaine’s eyes when Kurt had held him for a few moments longer than usual the last time they had kissed goodnight. Kurt hated to think that it was discomfort.

But now, as Blaine cuddled closer into his chest, Kurt wondered whether he could have misinterpreted Blaine’s actions.

Almost questioningly, Kurt moved his arm to tilt Blaine’s face towards his own. Blaine looked questioning, but smiled when he realized Kurt’s intention. Slowly, Kurt pressed his lips to Blaine’s. Blaine leant forward into the kiss, responding eagerly, so Kurt decided to up the game by sliding his tongue firmly over Blaine’s bottom lip.

Blaine’s response was immediate. He gasped, opening his lips to deepen the kiss, allowing Kurt to swipe his tongue into Blaine’s mouth, and groaning when it made contact with Blaine’s own. In a second, Blaine was readjusting himself so that he was sitting between Kurt’s legs, his arms around Kurt’s neck and kissing him fiercely.

Kurt’s shock must have shown, because Blaine pulled back slightly and said, “Is this okay?”

Kurt groaned at the low tone of Blaine’s voice, “Yes.”

Kurt reconnected their lips, and he could feel Blaine responding with equal measure. Blaine was leaning into him now, and Kurt could feel the press of his baby bump pressing into his own stomach, and the pull of Blaine’s hands on his shoulders as he tried to bring them closer despite it.

Kurt’s head was spinning.

He was so confused at the rapid change from chaste kisses to this wild man sucking his tongue into his mouth, but he was so, so okay with this change.

Kurt’s arousal was making his head swim, and he couldn’t help but slide his hands down Blaine’s back, feeling the muscle beneath his t-shirt. Blaine moaned in response, and Kurt muttered, “God, Blaine, so hot.”

The effect was instant. Blaine froze on top of him, and pulled his mouth from Kurt’s with a lewd sound. 

“Stop.” Blaine was climbing from Kurt’s lap, leaving him feeling cold without the hot cover of Blaine’s body. Blaine was now standing in the middle of the room, wringing his hands in front of his stomach.

Kurt had to clear his throat before he could speak. “Blaine, I’m sorry if that was too fast. I-” but Blaine interrupted.

“It’s not that, it’s just…” Blaine broke off with a frustrated sound. “I don’t want you to lie to me.”

Kurt was instantly confused. “About what?”

Blaine’s expression was irritated now, and when he spoke his voice sounded quite desperate. “You’re gorgeous, Kurt, so incredible and sexy. You could probably get any guy you wanted, and I-” he broke off, but Kurt suddenly saw where this was going.

“Wait, you don’t think you’re sexy?” Kurt was stunned. “Is that why you’ve been weird about touching me lately?”

Blaine groaned, “Kurt! I don’t want you to have to pretend that you find me attractive like this.” Blaine gestured to his distended stomach as he spoke. “You’re a wonderful boyfriend, Kurt, but we both know that in an ideal world you would not be dating me as a pregnant man. I don’t want to put the pressure on you to try to find me hot when I look like this. You’ve got abs, Kurt!”

Kurt was off the couch in a second, and wrapped Blaine in his arms. He was laughing slightly at Blaine’s hysterical exclamation, and his body shook as Blaine continued in a sad voice, “I used to have abs.”

Kurt extended his arms so that he could look Blaine in the eye. “Blaine, I am not _trying_ to do anything. I find you incredibly attractive, and hot, and sexy, and you don’t even have to try.”

Blaine looked unconvinced, so Kurt went on. He pulled one of his arms from around Blaine to place on his baby bump. “I didn’t know you before you had this, Blaine. When I met you, I could see that you were pregnant, and it’s not like I conveniently forget it. Every time I hugged you, I could feel this bump. Every time I kissed you, I knew it was there. Every moment I found myself falling for you, you were pregnant, Blaine.

“And I’m not going to pretend that I like you simply for your sparkling personality.” Blaine rolled his eyes and smiled slightly at that, but Kurt went on. “Of course I notice how incredibly appealing you are; your strong muscles, beautiful eyes, amazing butt, and yes, with your belly.”

“It doesn’t make you uncomfortable? Being with me like _that_ , while I’m like _this_?” Blaine looked into his eyes and Kurt knew he was trying to detect any trace of a lie, so he made his face as open and honest as he could.

“Not at all.” Kurt pulled Blaine closer to him to prove his point. “I want to make love to you, Blaine, but only when you feel ready. If you feel too uncomfortable to do it while you’re pregnant, I’ll respect that. But please don’t hold back on my account, because trust me, we have no problems there.”

Blaine tilted his head up slightly in order to press his lips to Kurt’s, and Kurt sighed happily into the kiss. He was feeling so light hearted now that he knew where they stood, and that he had hopefully eased some of the worry from Blaine’s mind.

When Blaine pulled back, he lowered his eyes to Kurt’s collar and started fiddling with the fabric. “I’m not ready yet,” he said, not meeting Kurt’s eyes as he spoke, but his voice was steady. “It’s hard enough for me to open myself up that much, especially when I feel so self-conscious about myself. No, it’s not something you can do for me,” he said, when Kurt made to interrupt, and Kurt nodded his head. “I will be ready; I think I just need some more time.”

Kurt nodded and gave Blaine a comforting smile. “In the meantime, can we still make out? Because that was really hot.”

Blaine grinned and pulled Kurt back towards the couch. They were going to make out like teenagers, and Kurt was more than okay with it.


	16. Chapter 16

 “Wow, that was a hard one,” Kurt said, his hands pressing further into Blaine’s belly, feeling out the small movements and kicks that Oliver was inflicting on his daddy.

Blaine leant his head further back into Kurt from where they were lying sprawled along the couch, Blaine resting on Kurt’s chest and Kurt’s hands securely wrapping Blaine’s bump.

“Yeah, he’s pretty fidgety tonight. Anyway, go on. What did she say?”

Kurt took a moment to remember where he’d left off in the story he’d been regaling Blaine with moments before, and then continued.

It was a quiet night in for the couple that night. Blaine was getting tired very easily at this stage of his pregnancy, and the long work week had caught up to him that night, and Kurt had insisted on cooking them both dinner and then an early night.

He’d even refrained from commenting when Blaine had slathered his perfectly seasoned chicken in ketchup when a tomato craving had hit halfway through the meal.

Kurt reveled in the comforting weight of Blaine on top of him, enjoying the ease of the evening. His hands continued to roam Blaine’s stomach as he spoke, each little kick making him follow the movement with his palms. He loved seeing Blaine so relaxed, especially since he’d been worried about how much pressure Blaine’s classes were putting on him. Being on his feet all day was something that he’d apparently never been bothered by, but those days were quickly coming to an end.

“I was thinking that we should meet up with Rachel this weekend,” Kurt said, changing the subject. “She’s been nagging me about neglecting her since I got a boyfriend,” he said with a huff.

“So why am I invited if she wants to see you more?” Blaine asked, his forehead crinkling adorably.

“She likes you,” Kurt said simply. Blaine had met Rachel on several occasions, and the two of them had gotten along very well, Blaine’s knowledge of musical theater allowing him to keep up with Rachel’s chattering and impressing her with his insight. Of course, she’d informed Kurt that the fact that she’d never seen Kurt so happy before meant that Blaine had won her over before they’d even met.

“Well, that sounds good to me,” Blaine answered. “Are we going to-“ Blaine began, but he cut off suddenly with a sharp inhale.

“Blaine?” Kurt questioned, but he was answered instantly when Blaine’s stomach hardened instantly under his touch. Kurt gasped at the feeling, but before he could do anything, Blaine had relaxed once more against him. “Oh my god, Blaine, what was that?” he asked, panic making his voice come out higher than usual, his hands fluttering nervously over Blaine’s stomach as though afraid to touch.

Blaine took a deep breath before he answered. “Don’t worry, Kurt. It’s Braxton-Hicks contractions.”

Blaine said this as though it was nothing to worry about, but Kurt felt the rush of panic increase even more. “You’re having contractions? Blaine, we’ve got to get you to the hospital-“ he started pushing Blaine upright in his attempt to get off the couch as quickly as he could, but Blaine pushed him back down with a small smile on his face.

“I’m not in labor, Kurt. They’re Braxton-Hicks contractions.” When Kurt gave him a look of confusion, Blaine explained. “They’re false contractions. They’re just my body’s way of getting ready for the birth.”

“So you’re not having the baby?” Kurt asked, his body relaxing back into the couch again.

“No,” Blaine said with a laugh. “I’m not nearly ready for Oliver to arrive anytime soon.”

“Do they hurt?” Kurt asked, his hands moving back to Blaine’s belly and cradling it hesitantly again.

“Um, yeah, I guess,” Blaine said, placing a hand over Kurt’s on his stomach. “I mean, labor will be way worse, so I guess I should be getting used to these. But I was pretty freaked out the first time it happened.”

“When was that?” Kurt asked.

“When you were in Italy, but I don’t get them very often.”

They lay on the couch as Kurt’s heart rate returned to normal, and his thoughts of the birth going through his mind.

“Pregnancy is weird,” he finally said aloud.

Blaine let out a burst of laughter, and nodded. “Yeah, it really is.”

“Any other weird things I should be looking out for?” Kurt asked, his tone betraying his actual curiosity.

“Not that I can think of right now,” Blaine answered. “I mean, you’ve already dealt with my weird cravings-“

“You may think the baby wants Doritos, Blaine, but he really, really doesn’t,” Kurt interjected, voicing his thoughts on Blaine’s seemingly constant craving.

“I’ll sneak some past you eventually, Kurt Hummel,” Blaine answered in a fake determined voice, and let out a startled scream when Kurt moved his hands to tickle his sides viciously. “Okay, no I won’t!” he yelled, before collapsing back into giggles when Kurt stopped his attack.

“So, what else?” Kurt asked, and Blaine seemed to think for a while before continuing.

“I have weird dreams. They started just after I found out I was pregnant, even before I told Connor and he moved out,” Blaine said in a thoughtful voice.

“Like what?” Kurt asked, trying not to tense up at the mention of Blaine’s ex and to keep the conversation light.

“Sometimes I dream he falls out,” Blaine said, and Kurt immediately let out a snort of laughter, his body shaking under Blaine’s. “No, seriously, don’t laugh! It’s a scary dream.”

“Sorry, honey, of course it is,” Kurt pacified, but he was sure that Blaine wasn’t convinced because his body was still shaking with suppressed laughter.

“Other times I dream I accidently lose him, and when I find him, he’s is a sea of identical looking babies and I can’t tell which one he is,” Blaine sounded completely horrified at the thought, and Kurt’s laughter started afresh.

“Sorry, Blaine,” Kurt said again, “It sounds a lot like stress to me.”

“Yeah,” Blaine replied with a huff. “At the time they’re pretty scary though.”

“But saying them aloud makes them seem less scary though, right?” Kurt said, wrapping his arms around Blaine tight, and pressing a kiss to the side of his head in apology.

“I guess you’re right,” Blaine answered, and Kurt melted a bit more at his adorable pout. “But in repayment for laughing at me, guess who’s going to be hearing all about my next weird dream at three in the morning?”

In between giggles, Kurt said, “Looking forward to it.”


	17. Chapter 17

It started with something so simple. Kurt and Blaine were meeting for a late lunch before Kurt had to head back to work and Blaine went home for the day. They had just finished their meal and were handing their bill to the waitress when she smiled at Blaine and said, "How far along are you?"

It was a simple question, one that Blaine had been asked many times by people he met on a daily basis, curious about his pregnancy. He returned her smile when he answered. "Just passed the seven month mark."

"Oh wow," she said, looking at his stomach, "So it's not long now? You're already in your third trimester; it'll be here so soon!" She wished them luck, and continued on her way with a smile.

Blaine, however, turned to look at Kurt with wide eyes.

"Oh my god, she's right."

"What?" Kurt questioned, picking up his jacket from his chair and standing up.

"Kurt, I'm in my third trimester and I'm not even close to being ready for the baby!"

"But, Blaine, you've got a crib and you've got plenty of-"

"Yes, Kurt! I've got a crib and that's it!" Blaine cried, his hands waving frantically, still in his seat. He dropped his hands suddenly and looked at Kurt. "Oh my god, and it's not even set up yet!" His expression turned distraught as he said, "Nothing's ready and I'm running out of time. I'm the most disorganized parent ever."

Kurt dropped to his knees at Blaine's chair. "No, honey, you're not. Honestly, you're overreacting," Blaine gave him a glare and Kurt quickly moved on. "You've got plenty of time to sort this out."

Blaine dropped his gaze to the table and said, "But it doesn't feel that way."

Blaine knew that the anxiety running through him was not necessary, but the wave of unpreparedness had suddenly hit him hard. Check lists were forming in his head, miles long and intricate, and he could not control the feeling that the time was running out.

Kurt looked at him for a long moment and then said, "Okay, come with me."

Kurt grabbed Blaine and helped him to his feet, pulling him out of the restaurant with one hand and bringing his phone to his ear with the other.

"Hey, Candace," Kurt said into the phone as they made their way down the busy street. "Can you put me through to Marcia?" There was a slight pause before Kurt spoke again. "Hey, listen, I'm not going to be to come back in again. I've got a family emergency."

Blaine blinked up at Kurt through his stinging eyes, and Kurt gave his hand a squeeze, still leading them through the bustling people.

By the time Kurt finished off his call, he had lead them into a store and headed straight for the back. Blaine was about to ask what they were doing there when he was met with a wall of the tiniest, most adorable baby clothes he had ever seen.

"Kurt." The exhalation was more in wonder than in question, and Kurt turned to him with a smile.

"I get it, you feel unprepared. Well, let's tick some things off your list, starting here. If buying Oliver some tiny outfits doesn't make you feel better, I will lose my faith in fashion."

Blaine looked at the wall ahead of him again and immediately picked up a small blue onesie. Then he turned back to Kurt to show him. "Kuuurt!" he cooed at him. "This is adorable!"

And so it began.

Blaine couldn't help his enthusiasm, but Kurt used his influence to sway him towards the items that they needed, even though he could see him nearly crumbling at the tiny pink princess dress.

"Blaine, I'm all for no gender limits for fashion, but that's not even for newborns."

"It's so cute, Kurt!"

Kurt rolled his eyes and proceeded to distract Blaine by laying a tiny green onesie over Blaine's bump, laughing at the comparison in size.

Once they had picked out their favorites, Kurt and Blaine moved towards the checkout, and Blaine was surprised to see Kurt pulling out a card to pay for his share of the clothes.

"What? These were my picks," he said at Blaine's raised eyebrow. "If you got it your way you'd have gotten the bears in bow ties in every color."

Blaine rolled his eyes and immediately began to deny it, but he was secretly pleased that Kurt seemed genuinely excited about preparing for the baby. Kurt was surprising him at every turn with how involved he wanted to be; how excited he seemed for the baby. Blaine could feel his eyes beginning to fill at the gesture, and turned back to the bags being packed in front of him.

And so it went. Kurt accompanied him to a few other stores, carrying bags filled with necessities in each hand while Blaine's stress levels decreased with every purchase.

When they finally reached Blaine's apartment, Kurt stowed all the bags in the nursery, and gave Blaine a soft smile as they were both reminded of the day they first met.

"So, you haven't had any other thoughts about decorating the nursery, have you?" Kurt asked as they walked to the kitchen for a drink.

"No," Blaine said, raising an eyebrow at the overly innocent look Kurt was giving him. "Why?"

"Let me design it." Kurt turned to Blaine, and he was suddenly struck by the thought that this was probably how Kurt pitched ideas at work. "I'll pick out some samples and arrange everything. I have experience in interior design and it'll be another thing off your shoulders."

"Would you?" Blaine asked. "I really don't know what I'd do, and I know you'd do a much better job than what I could come up with."

"Don't even worry about it," Kurt said, pressing his lips to Blaine's and laughing when Blaine followed his lips when he tried to pull away. "Give me the weekend to work on it. And no peeking! It'll be a surprise for when it's done."

"You're amazing."

Kurt raised an eyebrow, and said, "You're the amazing one." 


	18. Chapter 18

Blaine was awoken early on Saturday morning, by a loud knock on the door. He shuffled his way to the door, yawning into his hand as he went. When he opened the door it was to Sam standing in front of him looking very awake and expectant.

"Hey dude, are you still sleeping?"

"I was until you started your assault on my door," Blaine said, leaving the door open and shuffling back so that Sam could come inside. "What are you doing here so early?"

"Meeting Kurt, of course," Sam said, as though it was obvious.

"Sam, you do know that Kurt lives next door, right?" Things weren't making sense to his sleep clogged brain, but Sam just laughed.

"I'm here to help him with the nursery. He was meant to be here already, but I guess he's still getting ready."

"Oh!" Kurt had asked for the weekend to get the nursery together and he'd almost forgotten. "Yeah, sure."

"Anyway, you're going to have to make yourself scarce, this is meant to be a surprise," Sam gave Blaine a hard look, and Blaine thought it over.

"What about if I go back to bed, like normal humans at the crack of dawn? I'll give Tina a call later and see if she wants to go out."

"That works," Sam said with a grin.

"Okay," Blaine was already heading back to his bed, but called over his shoulder, "Let me know when Kurt gets here."

Blaine fell back to sleep in no time, but it felt like only seconds later when he was woken again by a pair of soft lips on his, kissing him chastely. Blaine immediately responded to the kiss, and he heard Kurt chuckle above him.

"Good morning," Kurt said, and deepened the kiss slightly as Blaine reached a hand into his hair to draw him closer. When Kurt drew back, he said, "I could get used to this. I really do like you all sleep rumpled."

Blaine let out a soft sigh and pulled Kurt down until he was lying next to him on the bed.

"Hi," Blaine said at last, his voice rough from sleep.

Kurt giggled. "Hi."

"Sam's in the living room," Blaine said, the memory suddenly coming back to him.

"Yeah, I know. We were taking some measurements, but I wanted to let you know that we're leaving. We're going to go pick up some paint and other things I ordered. We'll be back in a couple of hours."

"Okay," Blaine said, snuggling closer to Kurt despite his words. "I'm going to call Tina and find out if she wants to do something today.

They lay there for a few more minutes, Kurt rubbing a hand up and down Blaine's side, until Sam called out, "Kurt! You ready yet?"

"Coming!" Kurt called back, and Blaine groaned as Kurt extricated himself from Blaine's hold.

"See you later?" he asked as he moved towards the door.

Blaine blew him a kiss as he disappeared from view, and reached for his cell phone on the side table. He had plans to make.

The next two days passed in a flurry of movement. Blaine was promptly ushered out the door whenever possible, and otherwise the door remained firmly shut.

Blaine really appreciated the lengths that Kurt and Sam were going to help and surprise him, and so made no comment on their precautions.

When Blaine got home on Sunday night, it was to Kurt and Sam sitting in his living room and they both smiled broadly when they saw him.

"Well, that's my cue to go," Sam said, and Blaine gave him a confused expression.

"Don't you want to see his reaction?" Kurt asked, mirroring Blaine's look, but Sam just shook his head.

"No, you show him," he said, and then turned to Blaine. "Call me tomorrow and let me know what you think, okay?"

"Sam," Blaine called, and Sam turned around to face him, one hand already on the doorknob. "Thank you."

Sam gave him a bright smile. "No problem, man."

When the door shut behind him, Blaine turned to Kurt with an expectant expression. "Can I see it?"

Kurt gave him a huge smile and led the way towards the nursery. "Okay, so we used the crib that you'd already bought as a focal point for the rest of the room, but I think you're going to like what we did with it."

He pushed open the door and suddenly Blaine was hit with the full effect of a beautifully decorated nursery.

The walls were painted a light green and a wooden mural that read  _Oliver_ hung on one wall in the same medium wood as the crib standing on the opposite wall. There was a complementing rug and a soft looking chair in the corner, but Blaine's eyes were immediately drawn to the incredibly beautiful and intricate mobile hanging over the crib that was made up of circling little birds and music notes representing the birds' song. 

Blaine walked forward into the room and looked around in wonder. It was perfect.

"Kurt, it's absolutely beautiful. You did an amazing job." To his surprise, he could feel his eyes welling up just thinking of what this wonderful man had done for him and his child.

But then Kurt was talking, "I just wanted to make it perfect for you. I know how much you've been through, and Blaine, I just want to give you everything you deserve. You're so strong and kind, and I wanted to do something to show you how much you mean to me."

Suddenly, Blaine couldn't control himself any longer. He rushed towards Kurt and locked their lips together in a fierce kiss. Kurt responded just as eagerly, slotting their bodies together as their tongues slid against one another, fighting for dominance.

Blaine could not control the sounds coming from his mouth, and he knew that he couldn't wait any longer to have Kurt, to lay himself out and allow Kurt to show him exactly how much he felt for him.

"Bedroom."


	19. Chapter 19

Blaine broke away from the kiss only long enough to give the order, then tried to maneuver Kurt backwards out of the nursery, but Kurt stilled him, breaking the kiss again.

“Wait, Blaine. Are you sure?”

“Yes,” _yes, yes,_ Blaine had never been more sure.

Kurt looked surprised, but followed when Blaine began pulling him towards the bedroom. Once they reached the room, Kurt resealed their lips, and Blaine pulled Kurt back towards the bed. Once they were lying down, Kurt pressing his body into Blaine’s, Blaine felt a stab of the apprehension again, but he ignored it in favor of the arousal rushing hot through his skin. He was hard, and wanted more than anything for their bodies to align completely so that he could get just a bit of friction to his cock, but his belly was making it difficult.

Blaine whined in unhappiness when he tried to grind up, but was met with a lack of contact. Kurt must have realized his mission, however, because the next second, Kurt was pressing a firm hand against his hard cock, palming over the stiffness and sending sparks of pleasure through Blaine’s body. He moaned at the contact, but his eyes flew open when the friction disappeared a moment later.

“What, no-” he began, but Kurt stopped him.

“In a moment. You’re wearing too many clothes. Let me see you.”

Kurt reached for the hem of Blaine’s shirt, and Blaine closed his eyes against the flash of self-consciousness that filled him. It was Kurt. Kurt really cared about him.

His eyes remained shut as he felt a pair of warm lips trailing down his chest, moving lower until they were kissing over his stomach.

“No, don’t-” Blaine began. He knew Kurt had seen his stomach before, at the doctor’s visit, but this was so different. He would be able to see every stretch mark…

But Kurt didn’t stop, running his hands over Blaine’s chest and stomach. One hand rested there, while the other returned to his chest, thumbing over a nipple so that Blaine shut his eyes again to the sensations running through him.

“Blaine, you are so gorgeous. Let me show you.”

Kurt continued kissing down Blaine’s stomach, going lower and lower until he reached the waistband of Blaine’s jeans. Here he looked up for confirmation, and when Blaine nodded his head slightly frantically, he pulled at the elastic waistband, dragging the offending fabric down Blaine’s legs and off. He wasted no time with his underwear either, throwing them to the ground. Then he reached forward and took Blaine in his hand, immediately starting a slow rhythm up and down his length.

“Oh god.” Blaine could not hold in the noise, and his hips began rocking as much as they could into Kurt’s fist.

“Look so good like this, Blaine,” Kurt was saying above him, but Blaine could barely hear him over the pleasure building through his body, coiling with every stroke of Kurt’s hand.

Then the hand was gone, and Blaine’s cry of frustration was absorbed into Kurt’s mouth as his lips covered his yet again.

“What do you want, Blaine?” Kurt asked him, breaking the kiss, but keeping his face close to Blaine’s own.

“What?” Blaine asked, his mind muddled by the need that was permeating through him.

“How do you want to come?” Kurt elaborated. “Like that, with my hand? Do you want my mouth?”

But now that Blaine was not being touched, his mind was clear with what he wanted. No, what he needed. “Fuck me.”

Kurt’s eyes widened, and his face took on a beautiful red flush. “Yes, okay. God, Blaine.”

Blaine immediately pointed toward the bathroom, “There’s lube in the bathroom. I normally keep it in here, but I haven’t- not for a while.”

Kurt jumped off the bed, and hurried towards the bathroom. He was only a few moments, and when he returned he threw the lube and a condom onto the bed and took the opportunity to strip off his own clothes.

Blaine was immediately fixed on the unintentional show in front of him. Kurt lifted his shirt and threw it onto the floor at his feet. When he took his pants off, though, he threw them onto the chair in the corner of the room. Then his underwear was on the ground, and Blaine got his first glimpse of his cock, long and gorgeous, flushed red at the tip, and hard. Hard for him.

Kurt, free of his clothes, crawled back on top of him, pressing uncovered skin to skin. He reached for the lube, and uncapped it quickly.

“Is this how you like it? Are you an exclusive bottom?”

Blaine gasped as his legs were spread quickly, and Kurt settled between them.

“Um, no,” Blaine’s voice was shaking as he felt a dry finger trace behind his balls, before circling his puckered entrance. “I switch, but I don’t think I can top now, not with all the added weight. It would be a weird position too, to accommodate my belly.” Then Blaine could feel the finger, lubed this time, retracing the circle, and pushing in only slightly, a tease of what he needed so badly.

“After the baby’s born, then?” Kurt asked, his voice as calm as if he weren’t making Blaine’s legs shake with anticipation.

“Yes,” Blaine said, and as he said it, the finger pushed deep inside him, and began thrusting in and out. 

Blaine tossed his head back at the intrusion, breathy pants leaving his lips as the movement continued. Blaine had barely adjusted when Kurt added a second finger to join the thrusting.

“God,” Blaine moaned, loving the stretch and trying to tilt his hips to bring Kurt’s fingers deeper. “Ah, Kurt, just- up, please,” but Kurt did not comply.

“Not yet, baby, don’t want you to come until I’m in you.”

Blaine moaned again, this time at the words leaving Kurt’s mouth. Kurt added a third finger, and it was not long before Blaine was shaking from need.

“Please, Kurt,” he panted, and he was not shocked to hear how desperate his voice sounded.

“Yes.” Kurt did not seem to be fairing any better, and Blaine saw him move a hand roughly over his own flushed length to take the edge off his arousal.

Kurt moved into position, moving Blaine’s legs onto each side of his, but then stopped.

“Um, Blaine,” Kurt started, and Blaine got the picture immediately. There was no way that Blaine was going to be able to lift his legs with his stomach as big as it was. Kurt continued though, “Did you have an idea of how we’re going to do this?”

Blaine groaned in frustration. “This was never a problem before,” he said irritably, but sat up all the same, thinking what position would be best, where Blaine could still get an angle that would push him over the edge, but not hurt his bump or back in the process.  

He rolled over, and pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. Then he looked over his shoulder at Kurt. “Let’s try like this.”

Kurt moaned a little as he stared unashamedly at Blaine, and quickly moved to situate himself behind him.

Blaine waited for a second, and then he felt it; the blunt press of Kurt against his entrance. He immediately pushed back against the intrusion, and moaned softly as he felt the stretch of the tight muscle and the delicious drag of the hard length pushing into him so slowly. Blaine swore he could feel every pulse as Kurt’s cock was finally buried to the hilt.

“God, Blaine, so good,” Kurt’s wrecked voice triggered another wave of arousal through him, and he moaned out Kurt’s name. With that, it seemed Kurt could control himself no longer. He pulled out fast, and thrust back inside in a smooth stroke. He kept the pace, slower than Blaine was used to, but controlled and hard enough to rock Blaine’s body forward with every thrust.

Blaine cried out on a particularly forceful thrust, and felt his arousal like a coil tightening, the edges of his awareness fading except for the repeated pleasure sending sparks through his body.

He could feel the fire licking up his body, from his cock hanging untouched, through his back- but wait. This pressure was not alleviating with every movement, but getting more and more painful. It was now taking the forefront of his mind, and he felt his impending orgasm retreat slightly.

“Kurt,” he said, his voice slightly desperate with his frustration. “Kurt, wait.”

Kurt’s movements immediately stilled, and his voice was panicked when he spoke. “What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?” He pulled out, and Blaine hissed at the emptiness that radiated through him.

“No,” he collapsed onto his side, and moved a hand behind him, to rub at his lower back. “No, you didn’t hurt me, but I couldn’t stay in that position. There’s too much pressure from my stomach on my back and it hurt.”

Kurt looked relieved, then thoughtful. “Okay, how about this? No, stay on your side like that.” Kurt lowered himself behind Blaine, and tucked his arm around his body to support his stomach. Then he placed his leg between Blaine’s, parting them so that he could push his cock back into Blaine.

Blaine moaned at the return of the stretch, and heard it echoed behind him. If it weren’t for the hard length buried deep inside him, they could be spooning.

Kurt immediately continued his thrusting, and brought his free hand to wrap around Blaine’s cock, flushed and leaking as it moved through Kurt’s fist.

Blaine cried out as Kurt’s ruthless rhythm continued, and he reached forwards, tangling his hands in the sheets to ground himself against the pleasure building in his stomach.

“Come, Blaine,” Kurt was whispering in his ear, “God, please come, Blaine.”

Blaine bucked against Kurt and it was a few more strokes before he was crying out as his orgasm rushed through him, and he shut his eyes against the pleasure. He was coming down from his own orgasm when Kurt started coming, and the moan that he released was almost enough to make Blaine’s softening cock rock hard again.

But then Kurt was pulling out, and pressing small kisses to the sweat soaked skin of Blaine’s back. After a few minutes, Blaine felt him get up, tie off the condom, and move towards the bathroom. Blaine rolled over onto his back again, and allowed himself to revel in the aftershocks of his orgasm and the boneless feeling that followed.   

Then Kurt was back with a wash cloth. Blaine allowed Kurt to wipe over him, and throw the wash cloth into the laundry before pulling him back into bed beside him.

“Thank you, Kurt,” Blaine said softly, as he cuddled into Kurt’s shoulder.

“No, thank you, Blaine. That was incredible. I can’t remember how we managed so long without that.”

“It was even worse with my pregnancy hormones,” Blaine said with a delicate shudder. “I couldn’t bring myself to actually go through with it, but I wanted to jump you a lot of the time. Then I’d remember why I couldn’t, and it was all pretty confusing for me.”

Kurt smiled at Blaine’s expression, and said, “Yes, I can imagine that would be difficult, with your body wanting one thing, but not being able to give in to it.”

“My mind is telling me no, but my body, my body is telling me yes!” Blaine sang in a low, gravelly voice that rose in pitch when Kurt began tickling him.

“Nope, you just ruined it. This perfect moment is over now, thanks to you.”

Blaine giggled, and buried his face into Kurt’s chest. “No, everything’s still perfect to me.”

And it was; Blaine had never felt so at ease and satisfied in any relationship he had been in, and he was wondering how he had managed to find this perfect, wonderful, caring man who wanted him just as he was.

Kurt tightened his hold on Blaine slightly, and they lay, content to bask in the beauty of that moment.


	20. Chapter 20

Blaine pushed open the door and hurried out of the rain into the dry apartment building. He was cursing the need for essentials like toothpaste and food, as he lowered the hood on his jacket. He shouldn’t have to leave the house in rain like this for anything. He was about to make his way to the stairs when he heard the echo of voices coming down.

“-but there’s no cell service in this storm, so we’ll have to wait until tonight when we know he’ll be home.”

“I told you we should have let him know we’d be here, who knows if he’s even going to be home tonight?”

Blaine moved politely to the side as three people reached the bottom of the stairs, allowing them to move into the entrance.

The women smiled her thanks, and Blaine started moving up the stairs. Then he heard an outbreak of whispering behind him, and a gruff voice said, “Um, Blaine?”

Blaine stopped, and turned around in surprise. He studied the three people more closely; the first thing he noticed was a really tall guy who was taking up a lot of the space in the small entrance hall, and then his eyes moved to an older man in a baseball cap who was hand in hand with a women with short, light hair. Despite his investigation, Blaine had no idea who these people were.

“Sorry, do I know you?” he asked.

“Um, I’m Burt, Kurt’s dad,” the man said, and Blaine suddenly understood. “Sorry, but Kurt’s told us all about his boyfriend; I don’t know how many pregnant guys live in this building, but I thought I’d take a guess you might be him.”

“Oh, right,” he said, startled. He made his way back down the few steps he’d climbed and extended a hand to Burt, and the rest of the family in turn. “It’s nice to meet you,” he told them. After introductions had been made, he said, “Kurt didn’t mention you were coming.”

It was the woman, Carole, who spoke next. “No, I’m sure he didn’t,” she said, side-eyeing her husband. “He didn’t exactly know.”

Burt looked a little sheepish, and then said, “No, we wanted it to be a surprise, you see.”

“For Thanksgiving!” the tall man, Finn, added excitedly.

Blaine did a double take, and looked at Finn carefully. “Um, you’re a little early.” _Like, several weeks early_.

Burt rolled his eyes and gave a little huff of laughter. “We know. Kurt told us he wouldn’t be able to come home for Thanksgiving this year, so we thought we’d come up and bring it to him. The thing is, now’s the only time we could all get off work together, so we figured we’d celebrate a little early this year.” 

Oh! A surprise visit from his family! Kurt was going to love this. Blaine smiled at the little group, even though his heart tweaked slightly; his family hadn’t even been to see him since he’d gotten pregnant, though they assured him they would try their hardest to visit before the baby was born. A second later he realized that Thanksgiving this year was only a few days after his due date. He wondered if that was the reason Kurt wouldn’t be going home.

He was brought back to the moment when Burt added, “But Kurt’s not home, so we were going to wait back at the hotel. Maybe you could take our number and let us know when Kurt gets back? I can’t get hold of his cell in this weather, but you could probably get us at the hotel.”

But Blaine had a different idea. “No! You can’t go out in this weather now; I just went over a few blocks and almost drowned.” They looked out the door at the sheeting rain for confirmation. “And it’s just getting worse,” Blaine went on. “Kurt’s working late, but you can wait in my apartment in the meantime, if it suits you.”  

Burt and Carole seemed a bit taken aback at this, and shared a surprised look, but it was Finn, who was still staring out into the rain with a look of consternation on his face, who accepted.

“Sounds good to me, man.”

Burt and Carole added their agreement and thanks, and Blaine led them back up the stairs towards his apartment.

The truth was that Kurt probably wouldn’t head back to his apartment anyway. Despite how close their apartments were, Kurt was spending most of his time at Blaine’s these days. After they had taken their physical relationship to the next level, it had become even harder to separate at the end of each night, and now it was rare for Kurt to sleep at his place. They’d exchanged keys with bashful looks, and Blaine had never been happier.

Several hours later, Kurt opened the door to Blaine’s apartment and called out, “Hey, honey! Can you believe this weather? I almost broke my neck on the sidewalk coming in-” but he stopped abruptly as he turned into the living room to see Blaine sitting on the couch with a smug smile on his face, surrounded by his dad, Carole, and Finn.

He stopped short for a moment, before saying, “Did I actually fall and this is a weird head trauma induced hallucination?”

Blaine’s smile grew even wider, and Carole reached for a mug on the coffee table, her mouth also turning into a mischievous smile, before saying, “Hey, Kurt. So, we met your boyfriend.”

Finn added, “Surprise!”

That was it for Blaine, who fell into a fit of silent giggles behind his hand at Kurt’s expression. Then the moment was broken when Burt stood and opened his arms to Kurt, who rushed to hug his father at once. The rest of the greetings followed, and Kurt was quick to catch up on all the things he’d missed in Ohio.

Once the conversation shifted to Kurt’s life in New York, Blaine was surprised how often his name was brought up in Kurt’s tales. Not large things, just _Blaine said_ here and _Blaine and I_ there, and Blaine suddenly realized that somewhere along the line, they’d started sharing their lives together.

It was late by the time Burt and Carole decided to head back to the hotel, and Blaine looked on in surprise as Finn remained behind.

Kurt took a look at Blaine’s face and said, “Finn normally crashes on my couch when he comes to stay.”

Finn gave Blaine a grave look. “Yeah, otherwise I’ve gotta share a room with mom and Burt, and that’s just- ugh, no.” Kurt and Finn gave matching shudders, and suddenly Blaine could clearly see the brotherly bond between them.

“Oh, so I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” It felt so weird to not have Kurt coming to bed with him, and Kurt’s expression showed that he had a similar opinion.

“You normally stay here, don’t you?” Finn asked, giving Kurt a teasing look.

Kurt raised his chin at his brother, but all the same a blush appeared on his cheeks. “Yes.”

“Well, dude, stay here then, and I’ll stay at your apartment.”

Kurt looked at Finn curiously. “You wouldn’t mind staying alone?”

“No ways,” Finn answered. “I can sleep in your bed and not the couch. It’s totally a win for me.”

“Okay,” Kurt answered, and handed Finn the keys to his apartment. “I’ll come over in the morning and make you breakfast and we can hang out.”

 “Great,” Finn said, heading to the door. “See you in the morning, bro. Night, Blaine.”

Once Finn had left the apartment, Kurt and Blaine headed to their room, and got ready for bed.

“I really like your family,” Blaine said as they climbed into bed, Kurt snuggling in closer to Blaine’s side.

“I’m really glad they got to meet you.” Kurt pecked Blaine on the lips and said, “They like you, you know.”

“Really?” Blaine had hoped he’d made a good impression. He’d really wanted Kurt’s family to like him and accept his relationship with Kurt.

“Yeah. Trust me, you’d know if they didn’t; they’re not great at subtlety. Besides,” he said, encasing Blaine’s hand in his own, “They see how happy you make me.”

Blaine brought their hands up and pressed a kiss to Kurt’s knuckles. He guessed it was about as happy as Kurt made him.


	21. Chapter 21

When Kurt woke up the next morning he crept quietly from the bedroom, trying not to wake Blaine, who was still sleeping peacefully.

When he crept into his own apartment, he was surprised to find Finn already awake, watching something on the television.

"Finn? You're awake already? I thought I'd have to drag you out of bed myself if we wanted to eat before noon."

Finn smiled and shrugged as he followed Kurt into the kitchen. "I dunno, I guess I'm used to the tire shop hours now."

Kurt gave Finn a fond look. "Dad's the same way."

Finn returned the look. "Yeah."

"Anyway," Kurt said, moving to open the refrigerator. "What do you want for breakfast? Oh."

Finn had moved to hover behind Kurt at the door, something Kurt would normally have found incredibly annoying, but he was too busy noticing his completely empty fridge to say anything.

"Dude," Finn said. "There's, like, nothing in there." 

"That's not true," Kurt said, though compared to his normally well stocked shelves this selection was dismal. "There's milk."

"Kurt, it expired last week."

"Oh, right." Kurt shut the door firmly, and turned to Finn. "We're going out for breakfast."

Finn was trying and failing to keep a straight face at Kurt's uncharacteristic lack of preparedness. "So, why are you even keeping this apartment? It's pretty obvious you haven't even being staying here much."

They made their way out of the apartment and started heading down the stairs.

Kurt groaned. "I know. I guess I didn't realize that I hadn't been home in... Well, however long it's been."

Finn's eyebrows rose even more at this.

"Don't look at me like that, Finn! There's a big difference between spending the night at your boyfriend's and moving into his place. And our situation's kind of different."

Finn's expression turned confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Blaine's pregnant, and you might remember that generally leads to offspring."

"Dude, don't be like that. I'm genuinely curious."

Kurt sighed before he spoke. "Sorry, Finn. It's just that... When he has the baby, that's going to be his priority. I'm not going to be able to be hanging around as much, so I'll need my place."

"Wait, why?" Finn asked, as they entered the small diner Kurt had been leading them to and they picked a table. "I thought when he had the baby you guys would be, I dunno, like raising it together? Like you'd be the other dad."

"It's not that simple, Finn," Kurt said patiently. "We haven't really been together long enough for us to be like that. I mean, you've dated random girls longer than I've been dating Blaine, and you didn't settle down and start having kids with them."

"Yeah, but I never acted like you act around Blaine with random girls I dated. You and Blaine seem sort of put together, you know? Even mom said so last night."

"She did?" Kurt asked softly.

"Yeah. Speaking of the parents, are you going to hang out with them today?" Finn asked. Their conversation paused as a waiter came to take their order.

"I want to take my dad out today, Kurt said after the interruption. "And then maybe I can cook you guys dinner tonight?"

"Sounds good, man," Finn said. Then after a moment he said, "Your place or Blaine's?"

"Oh god, I need to pick up some groceries."

* * *

 

After Kurt had spent the day catching up with his dad, they headed to pick up something that could be used as their early Thanksgiving meal.

When they finally settled down around the table, Carole had already drawn Blaine into conversation and Burt and Finn were talking about basketball, so Kurt allowed himself to observe the easy company around the table. Their Thanksgiving meal left something to be desired due to their short notice, but with some help, they had pulled off a good imitation of their normal spread.

When they had finished eating, Kurt led the family into the living room with various after dinner refreshments and allowed the relaxed conversation to continue.

After a few minutes, Carole managed to lure Kurt into her and Blaine's conversation, and Kurt immediately realized that they made a formidable team.

"So, Kurt, tell me about your first date with Blaine," Carole said, a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Um, well. We went out to eat," Kurt said, feeling slightly awkward once he realized that Finn and his dad had stopped their conversation to listen in.

Carole pretended to swoon. "Oh, Kurt, stop, this story is too romantic."

Kurt could see Blaine failing to suppress a grin and wasn't surprised when he cut in. "Clearly we're not going to be that cute couple who shares lines while telling the story of how they got together."

"Hey," Kurt interjected. "There's time. I can improve."

Blaine let out a chuckle. "This from the guy who's idea of a romantic first kiss was in a doctor's office!"

Burt groaned. "Kurt, really?"

"I had a moment, okay?" Kurt said defensively. "The heart wants what the heart wants."

"Now whenever we go in for my doctor's appointments we recreate the moment," Blaine revealed with a shy smile.

This time, Carole's awing was legitimate.  "You go to the doctor's appointments, Kurt?"

Blaine gave Kurt a soft look as he answered. "He hasn't missed one since."

"I like going," Kurt said, tilting his chin up defensively, but everyone could see the shy look that had taken over his face.

Burt and Carole shared a significant look, and Blaine hid his smile in his shoulder before getting up to excuse himself to the bathroom.

The moment he was gone, all three of the guests turned to look at Kurt.

"He's really great, Kurt," Carole said, reaching over to grab Kurt's hand in her own.

His dad offered him a similar look and added, "Yeah, we all really like him, kid." His look became even more significant. "And we can see you obviously like him too."

Burt didn't drop his gaze, and before he'd made the conscious decision to say it, it had spilled out. "I'm in love with him."

Burt grinned at him. "I caught that much." He reached for Carole's free hand and held onto it tightly. "We could see it a mile away, kiddo. I've never seen you act like that around someone before. So caring; so protective. We all knew the moment we walked in he was gonna be around a while."

"I really think he is," Kurt said quietly. "That's why I really appreciate you guys not judging us and getting to know Blaine for who he is. He's really special."

"Of course, Kurt," Carole said as once. "But he is adorable. I mean, that little walk he has!" She giggled, and Kurt couldn't help a smile.

"The waddle? It's new. We haven't mentioned it yet in case he gets self-conscious about it, but I love it."

"What do you love?" Blaine asked, choosing that moment to reenter the room.

"Nothing," Kurt said quickly, but Finn raised his eyebrows in a playful way, and Kurt had to look away before he said something too embarrassing in front of his whole family.


	22. Chapter 22

Blaine and Kurt decided to do a joint trip to the grocery store that Saturday, despite the guaranteed weekend crowds. They put on jackets against the cooling weather and made their way out of the apartment and down towards the store.

They took hands as they walked and after a few seconds, Blaine started to swing their arms wildly back and forth. Kurt laughed loudly, and was trying to restrain the movement amidst his giggles, when they heard a voice call out.

“Blaine?”

Blaine lifted his head to look straight ahead, and he felt his stomach drop, his whole body freezing at once.

Connor, his ex-boyfriend, was standing stock still just ahead of them, his wide eyes looking back and forth between Blaine’s belly and where his hand was still firmly held in Kurt’s.

Kurt looked at Connor, then back to Blaine’s face as he obviously tried to read the situation, but his expression shifted abruptly as Blaine said, his voice shaking, “Connor.”

Connor took a few steps towards them, but then stopped again, as if wary of getting too close. “Blaine, you’re pregnant.”

And suddenly the apprehension and fear left Blaine’s face, and was replaced by narrowed eyes and a steely expression. “Yes. Has your memory been impaired since the last time we spoke, because if I remember correctly, that was why you left.”

“Blaine, you know it wasn’t like that. I was just honest with you when I said that I didn’t want children.” Connor’s gaze was placating now, almost pitying.

“I know, Connor, I remember. We each get what we want, right?” Blaine’s voice was hard, but he knew that Kurt must be able to feel his hand shaking.

“Well, yes, I did say that, I guess.” Connor looked a bit wary now, but continued, “But, I honestly didn’t think that you would go through with the pregnancy after I left; I just assumed that...” 

Blaine felt rage fly through him at the words left unsaid. “What? You just assumed that I would do what you wanted anyway? Give it up? I made myself clear that night when I told you I wanted to keep my baby. You were the one who didn’t want to.”

Connor’s voice was more hesitant when he said, “Come now, Blaine. I thought that you would see reason. Raising a kid on your own? I thought that you would see that you couldn’t do it, and start fresh. I mean, obviously we couldn’t be together anymore once we realized that we wanted different things, but you could find someone else who would do the family thing with you.” His words became pacifying once more, but it did nothing to calm Blaine, who felt his anger rise with each word.

He opened his mouth to retort, but to Blaine’s surprise, it was Kurt who spoke next.

“Well, you obviously don’t know how strong Blaine really is.” Kurt was looking at Connor with barely concealed disgust, but he squeezed Blaine’s hand as he spoke, a silent comfort.

But his words seemed to have reminded Connor of Kurt’s presence, and he spoke again, his own voice taking on a note of anger. “And who’s this guy?” he said, pointing at Kurt. “You think you can just play happy family; pick up a random guy to take my place, letting him raise my kid?”

The air seemed to freeze around them. Blaine’s voice was like ice when he spoke. “He’s not your kid, Connor. He’s _my_ kid. When you walked out that day you stopped being his father. And Kurt?” Blaine ripped his hand from Kurt’s to point towards him, taking a step toward Connor as he did so. “Kurt has been more of a father to my son than you will ever be. Kurt has gone with me to doctor’s appointments, helped me decorate a nursery, rubbed my fucking back when it ached! All you did was fuck me, and that’s not a good enough reason to be a dad.”

Blaine felt as though the anger coursing through his veins would overpower him, so he held out a hand for Kurt to take again and when he felt contact, he said, “Just remember, Connor, you wanted this. We each get what we want.”

And with that, he pulled Kurt along with him as he left Connor still standing in the middle of the pavement, surrounded by a group of curious onlookers who had been watching the fight with interest.

It wasn’t until they turned the corner and were finally out of view that Kurt pulled him up short with the hand still grasped in his. Before Blaine knew what was happening he was encased in Kurt’s arms, and he became aware that he was breathing erratically, his hands still shaking rather badly from adrenaline and rage.

“Shh,” Kurt was whispering into his ear, “You’re alright, you were so brave, everything’s fine.” He was stroking down Blaine’s back as he spoke. “I need you to try and calm down for me now, okay? We do not need to trigger early labor over that asshole. You’re okay.”

Blaine took some deep breaths, and tried to gain control of himself, but still could not speak just yet. When Kurt deemed Blaine ready, he released him from his arms, and began to lead him back towards the apartment in silence.

Kurt took the keys from Blaine, opened the door, and dragged Blaine over to the couch. When they were seated, Kurt wrapped Blaine in a close embrace, and Blaine allowed his head to rest on Kurt’s chest. They were silent for some time, Blaine simply taking comfort in Kurt’s solidity.

Eventually Blaine spoke, and his voice was steady, if quiet. “I’d never spoken to him like that before. Even the day he left.” He paused, and then added, “I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to anyone like that before.”

“This is finally the hormonal rage, then?” Kurt said teasingly. “I for one am glad it came out when it did.”   

Blaine gave a sharp laugh, and then all at once he was breaking down into shaky sobs, burying his face into Kurt’s chest again.

Kurt patted his back as he cried, and tears were still coursing down Blaine’s face when he lifted his head and said, “I just can’t believe what he said. All that stuff about me giving Oliver up when I realized Connor wasn’t coming back.”

“I meant what I said, though,” Kurt said, his gaze piercing Blaine’s. “You are so much stronger than people give you credit for. It’s what made me like you so much when we first met. That despite what everyone does or says to you, you’re still standing, not letting anyone change you or get you down.”

Blaine gave a weak smile, wiping his eyes with his hand, and said, “I dunno, I feel pretty down right now.”  

“That’s okay. Give it some time,” Kurt said, helping Blaine wipe the tears from his cheeks. “I for one am so proud of everything you said to him.” Blaine smiled wetly at him, but didn’t speak.

 “We need to talk about something,” Kurt said seriously. “We need to figure out what his rights are to Oliver. If he gets angry and wants to challenge you to custody-” but Blaine interrupted.

“He wouldn’t. That probably hurts more than it should, but he was being honest when he said he doesn’t want kids. What happened today was because his ego was hurt that I moved on so easily. He doesn’t actually want to be a father.” 

“We should still find out some information just in case. It’ll protect you, Blaine.” He said, and Blaine nodded his head hesitantly. After a silent minute, Kurt took Blaine’s hands hesitantly with his own. When he spoke, his words were careful. “Did you really mean what you said? About me being more of a father to Oliver than him?”

Blaine suddenly felt a surge of apprehension, and wondered what he should say. At last, he decided on the honest truth.

“Yes.” Kurt looked a bit startled at that, and Blaine hastened to add, “Kurt, I’m not putting any pressure on you, and you’re not obligated to-” but he was cut off by Kurt’s lips on his.

When he pulled back slowly, Kurt said, “I know. I’m not going to act like we’re in this together right now because I know we’re not. We haven’t been together long enough for that. But I’m hoping one day I can prove to you how much I care about both of you. One day we won’t have to act like a family, because we’ll be one. One day, Oliver won’t see me like a father, I’ll be his father. One day, if you let me.”

“I love you, you know.” Blaine didn’t mean to say the words, not now like this, but they were out there.

Kurt beamed back at him and said, “I love you, too.”

The hurt and anger wasn’t gone just yet, but the beauty of the moment surrounded them for the time being, erasing all thoughts but the love that they shared for one another.


	23. Chapter 23

Kurt watched Blaine pace his apartment, on hand rubbing the small of his back, the other pressing his phone to his ear. He had been on the phone for a while, but the conversation was almost impossible to pick up from his side of the line. Blaine’s replies were fairly limited to ‘yeah’, ‘but’, and ‘okay, Coop’.

Kurt spent the time entertaining himself divided between imagining the other half of the conversation, and checking out his boyfriend’s ass when he turned to pace away from where Kurt was sitting on the couch.

They had been interrupted earlier with Kurt’s hand about to push down the elastic of Blaine’s jeans when his phone had started ringing with the freecreditratingtoday.com jingle. It must have been a personalized one, because Kurt hadn’t heard that jingle since it was his own ring tone several years earlier. He would have to remember to tell Blaine that; it was another thing they had in common.

“Okay, Coop, talk to you soon.” Blaine turned back to Kurt as he disconnected his call. “So,” he said to Kurt, “My brother’s coming to visit.”

“Oh, that’s great,” Kurt said. He knew that Blaine’s family was well meaning, but often failed in their attempts at family bonding. His parents were very excited for the birth of their first grandchild, but hadn’t thought to make the trip to see Blaine since he announced the breakup and pregnancy. As far as Kurt knew, they were always bragging about their son who lived in New York, who had made it in the big city, but only saw each other for a few days over Christmas.

Kurt knew that Cooper meant a lot to Blaine; they had gone through the rough patches that came with such a large age difference, but were there for each other as brothers and as friends.

Kurt was so happy that Blaine would have some support, especially after the rough time they had had in the aftermath of the meeting with Connor.

“Yeah, next week. He’s been so busy with work, I haven’t seen him in almost a year.”

“Well, I guess I’ll have plenty of time to catch up on my own work stuff while he’s here. I’ll have to get groceries for my apartment. I don’t think I’ve even got milk over there anymore.”

Blaine looked slightly downcast at this. “Oh, actually, I was hoping you’d stay here so you could get to know him.” Blaine looked a bit awkward, but continued, “I mean, we’re not as close as your family, but he’s my brother, you know?”

Kurt could see the sincerity and hope in Blaine’s eyes, and immediately agreed, pulling Blaine back into his embrace. “Blaine, of course I want to meet him. I assumed I would be meeting him, I just thought that you might want some alone time with him.”

“Oh, you don’t understand. I love him, but one can only have so much alone time with Cooper before you enter a different dimension altogether. Plus, he’d probably prefer an audience.”

Kurt pulled back slightly to give him an inquiring look.

Blaine chuckled. “Don’t worry, you’ll find out soon enough.”

* * *

 

When Cooper arrived in New York the next week, Blaine was under strict instructions not to meet him at the airport. Instead they made use of the last few hours of alone time they’d have before Cooper finally arrived. They had come a long way in their physical relationship since their first time, and Kurt was confident enough to say that they had reached a level of comfort that surpassed what he’d expected from Blaine when he’d felt so vulnerable with his body and being with another man.

Now, however, Kurt watched with love and awe as Blaine crossed from the bedroom to the bathroom completely naked and without a single concern.

Kurt really, really loved that man.

Blaine decided on a long shower to ‘prepare’ himself for Cooper’s arrival, but despite the over exaggerated tone he’d used, it was obvious that Blaine was very excited for his brother to be there. In the meantime, Kurt perched himself on the couch to wait.

He amused himself for a short while with a mindless reality show, but switched the television off when the show came to an end, and picked up a magazine instead. He could hear the water had stopped running in the bathroom, so he contented himself with the thought that Blaine would come out and entertain him in a few minutes.

He flipped the page of the magazine, but there was a knock on the door before he’d even glanced at the title.

Kurt threw the magazine on the coffee table and pushed himself off the couch to answer the door. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves before pulling the door open to face the man standing in the hallway.

He had only one small bag with him and his clothes were slightly rumpled from his flight, but Kurt couldn’t deny he was one of the most attractive men Kurt had ever seen. And he looked slightly familiar, Kurt mused.

“Hi, you must be Kurt,” Cooper said, extending a hand which Kurt hurried to meet.

“That’s me,” Kurt said. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Cooper smiled when Kurt stepped back to let him into the apartment, and when Cooper spun around to face Kurt again, he had to hold in a gasp.

Freecreditratingtoday.com. Suddenly Kurt understood the personalized ringtone on Blaine’s phone and was so glad he’d forgotten to bring up his old crush on the guy in the ad.

Cooper appeared not to notice Kurt’s sudden epiphany, instead saying, “So where’s my little brother?”

Kurt was about to reply that he was in the shower when Blaine entered the room himself, looking adorable in an oversized hoody that was ridiculously huge on ever part of him except where it was stretched over his belly. Blaine had taken to wearing it more often lately thinking it did a good job of making his bump appear smaller, but Kurt didn’t have the heart to tell him it only drew attention to it. Kurt kind of loved it.

He and Cooper turned towards Blaine, and a smile immediately overtook his face when he saw his brother.

“Coop!” he called, rushing forward to envelop him in a hug, but Cooper seemed rather stunned and pulled back fairly quickly to look Blaine up and down.

“Blaine, oh my god, you’re huge,” he said, already reaching forward to put a hand against Blaine’s stomach. “Are you sure there’s only one in there?”

Blaine slapped Cooper’s hand away at once and sent him a glare. “Cooper!” he said in an aggravated tone, but he rolled his eyes in Kurt’s direction, so Kurt knew he wasn’t taking his brother too seriously. “Yes, just the one. How was your flight?”

“So long,” Cooper replied. “Remind me again why you live all the way in New York?”

“City of dreams,” Blaine replied with a wink.

Blaine immediately got Cooper settled on the couch while Kurt offered to get them some hot drinks, which they accepted gratefully. 

When Kurt returned to join them, Cooper turned to him.

“So, Kurt,” he said, with a stern look. “You’re treating my brother right, aren’t you?”

Kurt ignored Blaine’s groan, and answered, “Yes, of course.”

Cooper let out a sigh of relief and sat back in his chair again. “Thank god that part’s over,” he said, pretending to wipe sweat from his brow. He looked at Kurt conspiratorially. “I hate having to give you the older brother treatment, Kurt, but it comes with the territory. I hope I wasn’t too hard on you.”

Kurt looked to Blaine with a confused look, but Blaine was suppressing a grin and just shrugged.

“So am I staying in the guest room?” Cooper asked, stretching out on the couch.

“Unless you want to sleep in a crib that option’s out,” Blaine said dryly, and Cooper let out a laugh.

“Fine,” he chuckled.

“You’re staying in my room and Kurt and I are sleeping next door at his place.”

“Works for me,” Cooper said. Then he was leaning forward and speaking quickly. “Okay, let me tell you about how practicing shouting all my lines at a restaurant got me an audition for the Disney Channel.”


	24. Chapter 24

“Blaine, it’s not so bad,” Kurt said soothingly, “And we need to do what’s best for-” but he was cut off by an angry glare directed his way. Kurt stopped talking abruptly, and slowed down so that Blaine could storm away. This was not the easiest thing for Blaine to do considering he was heavily pregnant and walking up two flights of stairs, but Kurt thought the small victory might dissipate some of the anger that was rolling of Blaine in waves.

Kurt didn’t blame him; for the last couple of weeks it had been swollen limbs, back pain, weight gain, and exhaustion, but this was apparently the last straw.

Blaine took a brief pause when he reached the landing to catch his breath, and then continued his march towards his apartment. He unlocked the door, walked inside, and made to slam it shut, but Kurt caught it as he entered the apartment himself, looking slightly apprehensive now.

“Blaine?” he inquired softly.

Blaine turned around, and his eyes were flashing. “No, Kurt! That’s not fair!” Blaine threw his arms towards the floor, his fists clenched, and Kurt had to restrain a grin. “I just started having sex again, and now we can’t do it anymore? Not. Fair! I feel like a walrus and I can’t feel my feet, and having sex makes me happy! Why does no one want me to be happy?” His voice grew softer as he reached the end of his tirade, and he lowered himself onto the couch slowly, and let his head drop back against the cushions.

Kurt approached cautiously.

He reached for Blaine’s shoes and slipped them off of his feet, as he said, “I know, Blaine. It sucks, but Doctor Harrison said it’s too risky. It’s not that she doesn’t want you to be happy. I swear, once the baby is born and you’ve recovered, we can have all the sex you want, whenever you want it.” Kurt tried not to sound even remotely amused, but the glare that Blaine sent his way clearly said that he had not succeeded.

Blaine closed his eyes and groaned. Kurt moved onto the couch next to him and ran his finger through his hair. “Do you want to talk about what’s really bothering you?”

Blaine let out another groan, but he opened one of his eyes and pouted his lips. “I am upset about the sex thing,” he said defiantly.

“Oh me, too,” Kurt said, raising his eyebrows. “And?”

Blaine allowed his head to fall sideways onto Kurt’s shoulder. “I feel horrible,” he said after a while. “I’m sore and bloated and just huge. I can’t do anything, and I’m just tired of being pregnant now.”

“Blaine, you’ve loved being pregnant. You said a few weeks ago it was the most incredible thing you’ve ever experienced.”

“Yes, I know!” Blaine said petulantly, “And after I’ve had Oliver I’ll probably go back to feeling like this whole experience was sunshine and rainbows. But it’s hard to remember that right now when I feel so crappy.”

“Aw, honey,” Kurt said, and he wrapped his arms around Blaine’s shoulders. “It won’t be long now, and he’ll be here.”

Blaine mumbled something into Kurt’s shoulder, and Kurt strained his ears to catch it. “What was that?”

“I said, that’s another thing.” Blaine let out a breath and said, “I’m really scared about giving birth.”

Kurt pulled back to get a better look at Blaine’s face. “You are?” he asked, surprised. “I mean, it’s absolutely a legitimate fear and lots of people have it, but Blaine, you’ve never mentioned anything before now.”

Blaine looked uncomfortable. “Well, I’ve kind of been trying to ignore that part. Like, I’ll be pregnant, and then the baby will be here. I just never dwelled on the getting here part. But now it’s so close, and there’s no way to get around it.” 

“So is that why you’re so angry today?” It was all starting to make sense to Kurt now. “It was Doctor Harrison talking about the birth, wasn’t it?”

Blaine’s appointment today had been focused mainly on the proceedings surrounding the birth, and Doctor Harrison had given them a final rundown of what to expect the day of delivery. But that was just the final straw. With Blaine getting closer and closer to his due date, it seemed that the birth was all anyone had been talking about.

Sam, Tina, Cooper, Blaine’s colleagues, random people who met Blaine wherever he went these days, all asking about how much longer he had until the birth, when is he due, how excited he must be. 

Even Kurt had started talking in terms of ‘after the baby’s born’.

“It’s just getting so real, you know?” Blaine said. He rubbed a hand hard over his face. “I guess it just built up in my head until it was looming.”

“Blaine, when you feel like this, tell me,” Kurt said, rubbing a hand up and down Blaine’s side, trying to give a small sense of comfort. “We can talk about what’s freaking you out, and even if it’s still scary once we’re done, I bet you’ll feel much better about it.”

Blaine sighed. “I know.” Then he offered Kurt a small smile. “I do kind of feel better already just saying it out loud.”

“You have every right to be scared, Blaine, but I hope that you see that you don’t have anything to fear from this. And think of what you’ll have in the end! When Oliver’s here, you won’t even remember this worry. And you’re strong enough to handle this, Blaine. I know you are.”

Blaine nodded his head resolutely. “No, you’re right,” he said, steeling his expression. “It’ll be fine. I’m still sort of worried,” he clarified, “but thanks for the vote of confidence.” Blaine raised his head to press his lips to Kurt’s.

Kurt allowed himself to enjoy the feeling of Blaine’s mouth on his, before it was lost a second later. Blaine pulled away with a groan. “I love you, but stop rubbing my back. You’re turning me on and we can’t have sex!”

Kurt couldn’t help the laugh at Blaine’s sincere expression. “Okay, how about that foot rub instead?”

Blaine sunk further down into the cushion and laid his hands over his stomach. “Oh my god, yes! Best boyfriend ever.”


	25. Chapter 25

Two weeks before Blaine’s due date, he was unable to put the inevitable off any longer and Doctor Harrison, with a firm look and a no-nonsense tone, finally ordered him off his feet. His small frame and tendency to ignore warnings to take it easy had put him in a high risk area, and she’d implored him to be better safe than sorry.

He’d already started his maternity leave two weeks prior, but his nesting habits had started kicking in overtime, and though the nursery was all set, Blaine’s obsessive cleaning of the rest of the apartment had meant that the space had almost reached _Kurt_ levels of cleanliness and perfection. They knew it had to stop.

Blaine on bed rest turned out to be less stressful than Kurt thought it was going to be. He’d expected fits of boredom and anxiety over the impending birth, but at this stage of his pregnancy Blaine was just tired.

He was uncomfortable a lot of the time and the stress his body was under this close to his due date kept Blaine constantly exhausted. Their lives had entered an anticipatory state where Blaine would spend his days sleeping, reading, and doing other activities that did not require him to move very much. When Kurt got back from work, they spent their nights cuddled on the couch watching movies and talking, before Blaine inevitably fell asleep against him.

Kurt supposed he should feel strange about the turn that their relationship had taken lately; Kurt’s role in Blaine’s life was growing with every day, and Kurt knew that they had moved faster than they’d specifically stated they would when they started their relationship. Blaine had been clear on the fact that he was going to be putting his child first, and Kurt admired him for it. But at the same time, the closer that Blaine got to his due date the more anxious Kurt got about his role in their life.

When the baby came, what was going to happen to the careful routine that they’d been living in? Kurt supposed he’d have to spend more time at his own apartment, a novelty at this point. Blaine would have less time to spend just hanging out with him, and from then on, simply going out to dinner would involve scheduling, babysitters, and, Kurt was positive, separation anxiety.

It was going to be so hard.

But worth it, Kurt thought, looking over at his boyfriend sprawled under a blanket on the couch, his eyes drooping as he stared at the television.

It was now only three days until Blaine’s due date, and the air around the apartment felt frozen in a state of expectancy. Blaine’s family had arrived a few days earlier in preparation for the birth, and Kurt could see that though Blaine was glad they were here, and that Kurt had gotten the opportunity to meet his parents, it was tiring for him to have them around. Luckily, they were spending a large portion of their time making their way around the city doing touristy things that Blaine was definitely not up for at this stage of his pregnancy.

It seemed as though the more of Blaine’s drive was sapped from him, the more frenetic energy Kurt seemed to take on in his place. At every small grunt or sharp movement from Blaine, Kurt’s attention was immediately drawn to him, looking for a sign of pain or anxiety, only to realize it was simply Oliver giving a hard kick, or a muscle spasm.

Blaine, of course, had figured out what Kurt was doing by this stage, and had started giving him raised eyebrows at his twitchy actions.

Still, time was running out. He had to make the most of this while he still could.

Kurt dropped down on the floor next to where Blaine had lost the battle against his drooping eyelids, and was dosing with his head tilting back against the couch cushions.

“Come on, honey,” he whispered, pressing a small kiss to Blaine’s cheek. “Time to get you into bed.”

Blaine jolted awake at once, his head snapping up and his gaze landing on Kurt. “Huh? No, no, I’m not sleepy,” he said in a whine, stretching his arms away from his body, then wrapping them firmly around Kurt’s neck to keep him in place. “I haven’t seen you the whole day, I wanna talk to you.”

Kurt smiled, and pressed a kiss to Blaine’s sleep-soft lips. “We’ll talk in bed. Come on, love.”

He took both of Blaine’s hands in his and pulled him to his feet, keeping a hold on him while Blaine adjusted his weight and got his balance.

They went through their evening routines in sleepy silence, and by the time Kurt finally slipped into bed next to Blaine after his lengthy skin regiment, he’d expected to find Blaine already passed out for the night. Blaine, however, was very much awake, lying on his side to face Kurt, his head cushioned on his bicep.

“You’re beautiful,” Blaine whispered, and Kurt felt himself blushing at the sincerity in Blaine’s tone. He felt the need to turn away from Blaine’s adoring gaze, but fought the urge. He shuffled in closer to Blaine instead, wrapping his arms around Blaine to bring him closer.

“You’re sappy.”

“Yeah,” Blaine agreed with a smile. “I love that I can be sappy with you.”

“It’ll be my burden to bear,” Kurt teased. “But I love that you’re sappy with me, too.” He paused, then added, “I’m really going to miss this, you know.”

“My sappiness?” Blaine asked. “I’m pretty sure that I couldn’t stop being sappy if I tried, Kurt.”

Kurt laughed, but persisted. “No, I mean us, together like this. When Oliver’s here I guess we won’t be able to have nights like this anymore.”

“I know,” Blaine said, his tone a mixture of excitement and terror. “I guess these are the last of the full eight hour nights, huh? It’s nothing but getting up at all hours of the night for me from here on in. Quick, you need to memorize what my face looks like without dark circles for posterity.”

Kurt gave Blaine’s arm a playful smack, before saying in a slightly more serious voice, “I’m really going to miss this.”

“Hey,” Blaine said, and his tone was matching Kurt’s now. He pulled back slightly, obviously trying to read Kurt’s face, and whatever he found there must have concerned him, because his eyebrows drew together and he lifted his hand to push Kurt’s hair back from his forehead. “Things are going to change, Kurt, but it won’t change the way I feel about you. You know that, right?”

“I know,” Kurt said, quickly.

“Then what is it?” Blaine asked, and the note of worry that Kurt heard beneath the soft tone made the words come to his lips without conscious thought.

“I’m worried about what my place is going to be when the baby comes,” Kurt confessed. “I just don’t want to feel like I’m intruding on something that’s yours.”

“That’s what you’re worried about?” Blaine asked. “Being too involved?”

Kurt couldn’t say he hadn’t wondered about that too, but he shook his head. “Not necessarily. I just… I want to know what my place is going to be in your new life. It kind of feels like you’re starting this new journey, and I don’t really know how I’m going to fit into it.”

Blaine sighed, and when his eyes met Kurt’s again, they looked nervous. “We should probably have talked about this a lot sooner,” he said. “Things are obviously going to be very different with Oliver here, but I don’t want you to feel obligated to do more than you feel comfortable with Oliver. You still have your own place, and he’s my responsibility. But I don’t want you to feel like you’re walking on eggshells around us either. I want you to be in our lives, but only how you’re comfortable.”

 “You’d be okay with me still being around?” Kurt asked, feeling hope lift his heart. “Like, still spending the night here some days, and being able to come over after work?”

“Kurt, I love you, of course I want you around. I just want to make sure that you know that it’s not always going to be easy, and you definitely won’t have my undivided attention all the time. I wasn’t kidding when I mentioned the sleepless nights. It’ll be living with a newborn.”

“I know,” Kurt said at once. “I understand.”

“I just don’t want you to feel pressured to fit into a role you aren’t ready for.” _Dad_. The word went unsaid, but Kurt could feel it in the air. “Why don’t we take it a day at a time?” Blaine asked, with a smile. “We can work out our parameters as we go, as long as we agree to talk about what bothers us.”

After Blaine fell asleep some time later, Kurt allowed himself to think of the still unclear boundaries of their relationship, skirting the line between too soon and not enough. As his mind began to drift closer to sleep, for the first time he allowed himself to consciously paint a picture of a family in an unknown time, when he wasn’t so afraid to admit what he really wanted.


	26. Chapter 26

 Kurt felt as though his eyes had just closed; he could still see the impression of Blaine’s sleeping form behind his eyes, peaceful and soft. But then he felt the gentle shaking that had lured him from sleep and he opened his eyes to Blaine’s face next to his own. Kurt blinked several times, but his brain was still hazy with sleep.

“Blaine?” he said, peering past him to check the time on the digital clock on the bedside table. “It’s only five, go back to sleep.” Kurt moved to cradle Blaine against his chest and settle back down, but Blaine put a hand on his chest.

“Kurt, I started having contractions.”

Blaine’s voice was so calm that Kurt couldn’t reconcile the meaning of his words with his tone.

Contractions. But that meant that-

Kurt sat up fast, throwing the blanket off him but making no other move.

“When?” Kurt demanded.

“It woke me up a little while ago. I wasn’t sure what it was, so I waited a little longer to make sure.”

“Are you sure it’s not the Braxton-Hicks?”

“No. They’re much stronger, and Kurt, I’m two days from my due date.” Blaine gave Kurt a deep look and said, “It’s definitely happening.”

“Okay,” Kurt said, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves before he grabbed his phone from the bedside table. “I’m going to call the hospital and let them know we’re on our way.”

“Okay,” Blaine said, and it was still in the same soft voice from before. He settled back more firmly on the bed and started running his fingertips over the bump in swirling patterns. “Will you also get the bag from the closet?”

“Got it.”

When Kurt was finally connected to the hospital, he spoke quickly. “My boyfriend is pregnant and is having contractions.” 

“Okay, sir, can you tell me his due date?”

“November 13th.”

“And how long is it between his contractions?”

Kurt moved the mouth piece away from his face and turned to Blaine. “How long between contractions?” he asked.

“About fifteen minutes?” Blaine said hesitantly.

Kurt repeated the information, and listened as the woman on the other end gave him the information. He hung up the phone and moved to sit on the bed with Blaine.

“Okay, she said you’re still in early stages. Apparently it’s better if we stay here until your contractions are five minutes apart. It’s more comfortable here and we’d be hanging around for quite a while.”

“Okay,” Blaine answered, and let his head fall back against the headboard again and closed his eyes.

“Do you want to try and sleep some more?” Kurt asked.

“I don’t know if I can,” Blaine answered. “The contractions woke me up before.”

“This is it, Blaine,” Kurt said, the gravity of the moment hitting him all at once. “You’re having a baby today.”

Blaine opened his eyes and smiled at Kurt. “I’m having a baby today.” His face turned incredulous. “I’m not going to be pregnant anymore.”

Kurt laughed lightly. “I guess you should savor the last moments.”

Blaine chuckled. “Yeah-” he began, but then inhaled sharply. His face screwed up, and Kurt hurried to grip Blaine’s hand in his own.

“Contraction?”

“Yes,” Blaine said stiffly.

They sat in silence for several moments, Kurt anxiously watching Blaine’s face as he worked through the contraction. When Blaine opened his eyes again, he gave Kurt a sarcastic look.

“Savoring the last moments of being pregnant?” he said, raising his eyebrow. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Kurt and Blaine worked through the next couple of hours in the same way, with Kurt timing the intervals between Blaine’s contractions. Kurt tried to distract Blaine with talk of work, friends, that new reality show, and the baby, and Blaine’s eyes shone with obvious gratitude.

Kurt felt his own insides clench with worry when a contraction finally broke Blaine’s carefully constructed mask. He gripped Kurt’s hand again, his face scrunched up in his unease, but then he was gripping Kurt’s hand in a death grip and letting out a distressed sound that went down to Kurt’s very core.

“Blaine?” he asked anxiously.

“I’m fine,” Blaine said through clenched teeth. After a few seconds it seemed to subside, because Blaine lessened his hold on Kurt’s hand and looked up at him with a worn smile. “I’m fine, that was just a strong one.” He released a sigh before asking, in a slightly strained voice, “How long was it between that one and the last one?” 

“Six minutes,” Kurt said, checking his phone. “We could start getting ready to leave?”

Blaine nodded his head, looking relieved, and Kurt felt his heart clenching painfully at the action. Blaine was clearly trying to hide his fear, but Kurt vowed right then to do all he could to make this journey as smooth as it could possibly be.

When they were ready to leave, Kurt stopped Blaine by the door and pulled him into a chaste kiss.

“I love you,” he said, willing his eyes to convey the truth of his words.

“Me, too,” Blaine replied, his own eyes shining with emotion.

Kurt ushered Blaine out of the door, and took a look around the empty apartment before he shut the door. This was the last time they’d be there as just the two of them. When they returned, it would be with a baby in tow.

Suddenly Kurt couldn’t keep the huge smile off his face.


	27. Chapter 27

When Kurt and Blaine arrived at the hospital, it was gearing up to be a beautiful autumn day. Kurt had no hesitation in seeing it as an omen for the day to come.

They walked through the doors and were led to a private room where Blaine was given some privacy to wait. Kurt closed the privacy curtain around the bed anyway, and helped Blaine change into a paper gown, holding him steady as another contraction hit while he was halfway into the flimsy garment. Blaine’s cheeks were stained red from the exertion of the few movements by the time that Kurt helped him into the small bed, and pulled a chair to the edge of the bed so he could continue holding Blaine’s hand. 

Kurt knew that he was not going to be present for the actual birth; Blaine had made it clear that he wanted that moment to be about his child, and Kurt understood. If they did break up at some point, Kurt knew that Blaine didn’t want to remember that moment in regards to his boyfriend.

Regardless, Blaine held tight to Kurt’s hand while nurses came and went, and Kurt couldn’t help the rush he felt at knowing he was offering him a sense of comfort; that he was needed.

When the doctor finally came in to check on Blaine’s progress, she gave them good news.

“It won’t be much longer now,” Doctor Harrison said. “It might be time to call your family and friends to let them know you’ll be going in soon.”

Blaine nodded his understanding, and said, “We called my parents and brother on the way here. They said they’d get some breakfast first, and then meet us here after the birth.” He gave her a rueful smile. “It’ll probably be less stressful without them here for this part; my family tend to be on the over-dramatic side.”

Kurt jumped in then, “And I’ll call everybody when you go in and let them know. It’ll give me something to do while I wait.”

Doctor Harrison smiled and said, “Great. I’ll be back in a few minutes to wheel you through, Blaine.” She waited as Blaine was struck by another contraction, but when his head had dropped to his pillow once more she put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze. “This is it.”

Blaine’s face stretched into a smile and he gave her a grateful look. “This is it.”

When she’d left the room once more, Kurt brought their linked hands to his lips, and kissed the back of Blaine’s fingers.

“I’ll be right here, in the waiting room. I’ll see you when it’s over.”

“I’ll have a baby then, Kurt.”

Kurt smiled at him fondly. “I know.”

“This is crazy.”

“I love you, Blaine.”

Blaine looked at Kurt, and his eyes spoke more than his reply. “I love you, too.”

Kurt got up from his chair and brought their lips together in a chaste kiss. “I’m so proud of you. Now go have a baby. I’m dying to meet Oliver, and I think he’s kept us waiting long enough, huh?”

“I’ll say,” Blaine said, with a huge grin, and when the door swung open again and a couple of nurses came towards the bed, Kurt gave him one final kiss, and slipped out of the door.

* * *

 

Kurt tried his hardest to avoid pacing the waiting room like every Hollywood cliché maintained he would, but after the first 30 minutes, sitting down became an impossibility.

He’d already called Blaine’s family, who’d assured him they would be arriving shortly and were completely ready to meet the newest member of the Anderson family.

Then Kurt had called his own family to tell them the news and they’d offered their congratulations and asked Kurt to call with more information when he could. Burt had also asked Kurt if he was taking time off work to help Blaine get settled in with the baby and Kurt had told him of the conversation he’d had with his boss.

When Kurt had spoken to Marcia about taking his vacation time after the birth, she’d been shocked.

“Your boyfriend is having a baby?” she’d asked incredulously.

“Yes, in mid-November, so I want to take some time to be with him if that’s okay-“ but Kurt had been cut off completely when she’d thrown her arms around him.

“Kurt, I had no idea you were even seeing someone, let alone having a baby! Let me tell you, I never really saw you as the family type, but who knew there was a whole other side to you? Congratulations!”

Kurt had failed to mention that it wasn’t strictly _his_ baby, and had accepted the well wishes anyway after she had approved his leave.

Kurt stopped his pacing long enough to ask a passing nurse if she had any information about Blaine, but she hadn’t heard anything. He thanked her when she said she would pass on any information and he would probably get an update soon enough. Kurt looked at a clock on the wall and figured enough time had passed that he could make the last few phone calls. He picked up the phone and dialed Sam’s number, telling him they were at the hospital.

“It’ll probably still be a while, but I thought I’d let you know so you can come through later-“

“No, man, I’ll come wait with you. I’m on my way now.”

Kurt couldn’t deny his gratefulness at having Sam there with him.

After he hung up with Sam he called Tina, who didn’t listen to half the conversation before declaring she was on her way.

His job was done. All he could do now was wait.

* * *

 

Blaine’s every breath felt labored.

His eyes stung as bright florescent lighting blurred through unshed tears of anxiety, or exertion, or both. 

He could hear voices as though through water, swimming in and out of focus as he broke the surface, before being swallowed beneath it again.

Then a moment of clarity as an insurmountable weight was placed upon his bare chest, and his eyes found his son’s face for the first time.

He gathered enough breath for one word.

“Oliver.”


	28. Chapter 28

When Blaine awoke next, he was in a small room, bare except for another empty bed on the opposite side of the room. He was not sure how long he had been asleep, but his memory came back to him at once. The labor, his fear during the birth, and then joy at seeing the perfect baby in his arms.

He felt their separation like a physical pain, and he reached for the button that would bring a nurse. When a young women entered the room, Blaine asked at once, “Where is he?”

She smiled at him. “He’s on his way, won’t be long. I called down when I saw you were awake.”

It was forever and yet no time at all before the door opened again and an older nurse entered the room, bringing with her a basinet. The nurse helped Blaine to sit up with some difficulty, and then they were passing him his sleeping son.

He was just as small as he remembered, his eyes shut tight against the bright light of the world. Blaine did not know whether the nurses stayed or left, his attention was placed fully on the tiny baby in his arms.

Blaine studied his face with the utmost care, taking in the nose that was obviously his, and pain coursing through him when he realized that when his son finally opened his eyes they would be as startlingly beautiful as Connors.

He had never felt so happy in all his life.

He would never regret his decision to keep his son, he had known that from the start, but looking down on this face that he was trying to memorize with all his might, he felt that this incredible love welling up inside him had been inevitable. There was never any path for him that didn’t include this child in his arms, his heart bursting with pride and happiness at his utter perfection.

He still didn’t look up when he heard the door open moments later. He could tell that it was Kurt standing in the doorway, could hear his quiet gasp in the silence of the room. He kept his eyes trained on his son, drinking him in, while Kurt moved towards the chair beside his bed.

He could feel Kurt’s gaze on him, and tilted his arms slightly so that Kurt could have a better view of the baby.

“Blaine,” Kurt whispered. “He’s amazing.”

Blaine finally raised his head to meet Kurt’s eyes, and felt his eyes fill with tears. “I know. So perfect.” He felt the tears in his eyes spill over, and watched as Kurt’s eyes filled up too as he lowered his gaze to the sleeping baby again.

“You’re perfect,” he said, looking at Blaine once more. “I’m so proud of you. Look at what you did.” Tears were falling down his cheeks now too, but he was smiling wide.

“Do you want to hold him?” Blaine asked, and at that moment he knew he would give up holding his baby for no one else.

Kurt looked nervous, but his voice was steady when he said, “Yes.”

Blaine passed his son to Kurt, trying all the while not to jostle the sleeping baby or have to move too much himself.

When the baby was securely in Kurt’s arms, Kurt let out a great exhalation and fixed his eyes to the bundle.

“Hello, Oliver.”

Blaine’s emotions, so wrecked and overpowering, could barely withstand the picture before him; the man he loved more than anything gazing down at his newborn son. It was everything he had always hoped for.

The calm of the moment was broken a second later, however, when the door opened once more, and his mother, father, and Cooper all entered the room.

His mother’s cry was predictable. “Blainey!” She rushed over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “How are you, Darling?”

“Good, thanks, Mom. Tired, but happy.”

“Of course.” She now moved to peer over Kurt’s shoulder at the baby, and inhaled sharply, “He’s absolutely beautiful.”

Blaine felt the warm pride fill him once more at her praise, and smiled up at his father when he put a hand onto his shoulder.

“You’ve got some friends in the waiting room,” he said. “They sent us through first, and the nurses say they’ll bring them through to see you as soon as you’re ready.”

Blaine offered his father his thanks at the news, and then returned to watching the rest of his family coo over his son.

“What’s his name, Blaine?” Cooper asked, looking over with a large smile on his face.

“Oliver Hugh Anderson.”

Blaine grimaced at the immediate onslaught of baby talk that followed his announcement.

“Aw, Ollie!”

“Little Baby Ollie!”

Kurt chuckled at the expression on Blaine’s face, and allowed Cooper to take the baby from him.

Blaine was thrilled that his family was so excited about his son, but Blaine was waiting for the moment that they would return to their hotel so that he could bask in the joy of his child alone with Kurt. In the meantime, he allowed himself to feel the happiness coursing through him, and sharing brief knowing glances with his boyfriend as his family celebrated newborn Oliver.


	29. Chapter 29

The next few days were trying as Blaine recovered and started learning how to take care of his infant son. The nurses were extremely patient and kind, and told him that he was a natural to fatherhood, but it was a big difference to adjust to.

He did not anticipate being so cautious and anxious about his child.

When Cooper, who stayed in New York for a few days after their parent’s departure, waved his hand and then pointed dramatically at Kurt while still holding Oliver, Blaine had nearly had a heart attack. He had shouted for Cooper to please hold his newborn child with two hands, and for god’s sake, don’t drop him! The next day, when Oliver stopped crying very suddenly while Blaine rocked him in his arms, Blaine’s stomach had dropped with fear, only to see that he had just fallen asleep as easy as that.

Sam and Tina had been at the hospital to visit, too.

In between cooing over Oliver, Kurt and Tina had struck up a fast friendship as they discussed the merits of different pre-schools and shared teenage rebellion phases. Blaine had to remember to ask about that.

The first time that Sam had entered the hospital room to see Blaine lying in bed holding his baby, his eyes had bugged. Blaine greeted Sam with a smile, and he rushed over to Blaine’s bedside, and looked at the baby in amazement.

“Wow, dude,” he said softly. “I can’t believe how small he is.”

Blaine chucked, “Sam, the last time you saw him, he was in me. I wasn’t that big, was I?”

“I dunno, Blaine, you were pretty big.”

Blaine tried to swat at Sam, but he just laughed and backed away. “Anyway,” he continued, “Congratulations, man, he’s really incredible. Still Oliver, right?”

“Yes,” Blaine said, and made to pass the baby into Sam’s arms, but Sam moved away again.

“No, no, don’t, what if I drop him?” Sam said, raising his hands as if surrender.

But Blaine said patiently, “Grab that chair over there, and sit down.” Sam did as he asked, and when he was seated, Blaine added, “Okay, now I’m going to pass him to you, just cradle him and make sure you hold his head.” Blaine passed him over slowly, and Sam made a show of cradling him very gently, until he was in a secure hold. Then he looked up and smiled at Blaine with a look of delight.

“See?” Blaine said. “Not so bad, huh?”

“No,” Sam said, now inspecting the baby in his arms.

“You have to get used to holding him if you’re going to be his godfather.”

Sam looked up quickly in shock. “Really? Me?”

“Sam, no one’s been there for me like you have-” Sam snorted and raised an eyebrow, “Kurt doesn’t count, he can’t be Oliver’s godfather if one day we-” Sam raised his eyebrows even higher, so Blaine changed track, a light blush covering his cheeks. “Sam, you’re my best friend and there is no one I trust more to make sure my son is always cared for. When he needs advice, or someone to talk to, I want him to be able to go to someone whose judgment I trust. And you’re definitely going to be the cool uncle, so there’s that too.”

Sam gave Blaine a watery smile, and said, “Damn right.”  Then softer, “Thanks.”

Blaine grinned at him. “Just don’t tell Cooper.”

Sam’s smile grew, and he said, “Okay, next we need to talk about who’s going to be your best man when you marry Kurt, because you know I’d write a kick-ass speech, and-“ but he was cut off by Blaine’s shout of, “No!”

* * *

 

Blaine and Oliver were allowed to leave the hospital a few days later. Even though Kurt had barely left the hospital since Oliver had been born, his excitement over their homecoming was infectious. By the time the final paperwork had been completed, Blaine was already imagining Oliver in that new crib he’d picked out so many months before.

Blaine’s life at that point had been so different to where he was now; such a dark and lonely place, brightened first by only the thought of his son, and then later, by Kurt. It felt like to short an amount of time to have his life turned upside down and rewritten to include such happiness, yet in that moment Blaine couldn’t remember not feeling so filled with love.

As Kurt turned to smile at him as they pulled up to the apartment building, the feeling only intensified.

Kurt insisted on carrying Oliver, safely tucked into his car seat, up the stairs to their floor, and Blaine was instantly relieved at the command. Even though he’d proven fit enough to leave the hospital, he still found himself struggling with the stairs, and once again cursing their lack of an elevator.

When they reached the landing, Kurt waited patiently for Blaine to catch his breath, and then made his way to Blaine’s apartment without sparing his own front door a second glance. Blaine looked at him curiously, but Kurt seemed to take no notice.

The apartment was still as immaculate as it had been the night that Blaine had gone into labor, but the back wall was now adorned with a huge banner proclaiming, ‘Welcome Home, Baby’.

Without warning, Blaine felt his eyes welling, and he let out a watery chuckle. “That’s sweet,” he said, and Kurt dropped the bag he was holding to reach for Blaine’s hand and give it a squeeze.

“It’s from Tina, Sam, and me,” Kurt said, smiling bashfully. “I’m under strict instructions to let you know that they wanted to be here to welcome you home, but they thought you might want some time to get Oliver settled in. In addition to that, you have to call them as soon as you’re feeling up to visitors because they miss the baby already.”

“And so it begins,” Blaine said with a laugh, his eyes still gleaming. “It’s just a matter of time before they forget all about me; it’ll be all about the baby.”

“Can’t blame them,” Kurt said with a small smirk. “He is pretty cute.”

“And I’m not?” Blaine said, a look of false shock covering his face.

“You’re the cutest,” Kurt said, leaning down to press his lips softly to Blaine’s. “Now come on, Oliver needs to see his new nursery.”

When Blaine finally unbuckled Oliver, and hesitantly transferred the sleeping baby to his crib, he couldn’t look away. It was just like he’d pictured it so many times, a fantasy brought to life, and Blaine’s emotions flared up again.

“I didn’t know I could love someone so much so fast,” Blaine said, not taking his eyes off the sleeping baby, watching his measured breaths. “It’s almost scary to me.”

Blaine could feel Kurt staring at him, so he glanced up to meet his gaze. The look that Kurt was giving him was so soft that Blaine felt his cheeks heat. “Yeah,” he said quietly.

The moment was broken a second later when Oliver let out a piercing wail, and both men immediately shifted their attention to the baby.

“Okay,” Kurt said. “Where do we start?”


	30. Chapter 30

Kurt was groaning into his pillow before he even realized why he was awake. The jarring cries coming from the baby monitor on Blaine’s side table were unrelenting, and Blaine sat up with a sleepy grunt. He looked around the room in disorientation before he lifted the blanket to climb out of the bed.

“Oh my god, Blaine,” Kurt said, his voice coming out rough with sleep. “Has he stopped at all tonight?”

Blaine replied with a grunt that probably meant the negative.

Kurt let out another groan as he let himself fall back onto his pillow while Blaine stumbled towards the door.

In the initial week after Oliver had come home from the hospital, Kurt had entered a state of overconfidence. With both Kurt and Blaine’s attention solely being on learning to adjust their schedules so that Oliver was taken care of, they fell into an easy pattern of Blaine learning to care for his son, while Kurt tried to put his attention towards looking after his still recovering boyfriend, and making sure the apartment didn’t fall into levels of complete disrepair. Blaine maintained his opinion that he was the one who should be taking on the responsibility of caring for Oliver, and if Kurt felt a sting of disappointment at his lack of input in Oliver’s care, he could push it to the back of his mind in favor of cuddles and playtime with the baby instead.

But just because Blaine wouldn’t allow him to partake in midnight feedings didn’t mean that he was exempt from the sleep deprivation of new parents. This became apparent as Kurt’s leave ended and he returned to his normal work hours and full days at the office were added to long nights.

Kurt could hear the sounds of Blaine arriving in the nursery from the baby monitor that Blaine hadn’t switched off, and the cries continuing to pierce through Kurt’s daze.  Kurt rolled over and pulled his pillow over his ear as he tried to fall under again, but now Kurt could hear Blaine singing a soft lullaby on top of Oliver’s screams.

When Kurt walked into the nursery only an hour later, it was to find Blaine sitting in the armchair with Oliver on his chest, staring out of the window in a daze. Oliver wasn’t asleep; his eyes were closed but he was squirming in Blaine’s grip as though trying to escape the hold.

“Won’t sleep?” Kurt asked, walking over to the armchair and trying to take the squirming baby from Blaine’s loose grip. He lifted the baby to his own chest, and Oliver’s bright blue eyes looked up at him for a second before he opened his mouth to cry once more. Kurt quickly placed the baby back onto his exhausted boyfriend’s chest, and Oliver’s cries quietened to displeased moans.

“I swear I haven’t gotten more than an hour’s sleep tonight,” Blaine said, his voice coming out strained.

“I know,” Kurt said, thinking of his own blood shot eyes and pallid skin. There was only so much damage control he could do before work.

“Do you have to leave already?” Blaine asked, bringing a hand to rub soft circles onto Oliver’s back as he spoke.

“It’s already 7:30, honey.”

“Damn, is it? I don’t know how I’m going to make it through today.”

Kurt can’t help but start to resent the statement as the day went by. Things at the office had been going well since he’d returned from his time off for Oliver’s birth. He’d been given hugs and pats on the back from excited coworkers and passed around his phone to display photos of Oliver in the hospital cot, in Blaine’s arms, resting on his own shoulder. But as the days passed, fresh gossip had replaced his news, and his new responsibilities had been mostly forgotten.

Expectations about the standard of his work, however, hadn’t changed, and with only a few hours of sleep under his belt, as well as little opportunity to work late or bring his work home with him, he was struggling to maintain his usual pace.

After a long morning of trying to finish the work he’d hoped to have done the night before, he was struggling to keep his eyes open in his afternoon meeting. When Marcia finally let them go some time later, Kurt couldn’t have told you what the meeting was even about.

He was almost out the door before Marcia’s voice stopped him. “Kurt! Just a second,” she said, and Kurt’s stomach dropped.

She gestured for him to sit down again, and as he did, she moved to lean against the table. Kurt expected some sort of chastisement for how off his behavior had been, but instead the look she offered him was worried.

When she spoke, her tone was soft. “I know you’ve had quite an adjustment to get through, Kurt. How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine,” Kurt responded immediately. When Marcia gave him a stern look, he added, “Tired. Oliver hasn’t been sleeping well the past few nights, but last night was really bad.”

Marcia gave him a pitying look, and when she spoke again her voice was obviously meant to be soothing. “It must be tough, having a new baby and trying to keep up with everything here. But I can tell it’s getting to you, Kurt.”

Kurt flinched a little at her criticism, subtle as it was, but she must not have noticed because she went on.

“If you need to cut back on some of your responsibilities right now, it’s not an issue. God knows John needs to get his act together, and if I added him to the new project the workload might be more manageable right now-“ but Kurt cut her off, panic rushing through his system.

“No, no,” Kurt said, and he knew he sounded distressed, but he couldn’t seem to remember how to calm his tone. “I’m fine, this is my project and I don’t need anyone else.”

“Okay, okay,” Marcia said, putting her hands up in defense. “It’s your call, Kurt. If you think you can handle it, I’m going to trust you on it. But if at any stage it gets too much to handle, don’t hesitate to come to me.”

With a tilt of her head, Kurt knew he was dismissed, and he gave her a strained smile before leaving the room, his chin lifted defensively in the air.

When he made it back to his desk, he immediately called out to his assistant, and if his voice was snappier than usual it went unchallenged. “I need coffee.”

* * *

 

When Kurt walked into his building that evening, his mind was still so filled with fabric samples that he wasn’t sure if the spots in front of his eyes were from the incoming polka dot trend or exhaustion. He opened the door to Blaine’s apartment, dropped his keys into the small bowel on the side table-his addition to the apartment- and then started making his way towards the kitchen. He stopped and turned when he saw Blaine exaggeratedly tip toeing his way out of the nursery before closing the door softly behind him.

And there was complete silence. Not a single cry.

Blaine grinned at him coquettishly, despite the clear exhaustion in his eyes. “I am the baby whisperer.”

Kurt gave him a grin. “Yeah, having a one sided conversation about the merits of a full night sleep are enough to knock anyone out,” Kurt said teasingly.

“Oh no,” Blaine said, walking over and putting his arms around Kurt, letting him support his weight. “I gave up on that. Today I settled on crying louder than him until he gave up the game and went to sleep.”

Kurt chuckled, but rubbed a hand up and down Blaine’s back. “Tough day, huh?”

“Is it too early for adults to be in bed?”

“Way to early,” Kurt responded. “Let’s go.”

“I love you,” Blaine said, relief in his voice.

“I love you, too,” Kurt replied, allowing himself to be pulled away from the kitchen in favor of an early night.

They were already crawling into bed, Blaine wrapping Kurt in his arms when he said, “You didn’t say how your day was. How was work?” Kurt thought anxiously of Marcia’s concerns, but when Blaine yawned loudly into Kurt’s shoulder, he pushed it from his mind.

“Long, but good.”

“Good,” Blaine said, tightening his hold on Kurt before he settled more comfortably under the covers.

He was content in his new routine, but when Oliver’s cries lit the monitor again a few hours later, Kurt felt guilty thinking of the quiet of his own bedroom in the apartment next door.


	31. Chapter 31

“I don’t think it’s normal for him to cry this much,” Blaine said, desperation starting to creep into his voice.

Kurt grunted from where he was standing in front of the coffee machine. Blaine had just managed to put Oliver to sleep in time for Kurt’s alarm to remind him that he had to be a functioning member of society that day. He was definitely going to need more than his regular caffeine hit to make it through the day.

“And I’m doing everything I can, but he doesn’t want to be fed, or changed, or anything. I just don’t know what he needs from me.”

Kurt gave what he hoped was a sound of understanding as he watched as coffee slowly began to drip from the machine.

“Kurt,” Blaine said, and the irritation in Blaine’s voice made him look up.

“What?” he asked, trying not to match Blaine’s impatient tone.

“I’m really worried here,” Blaine said, and now Kurt could hear the desperation in his voice. “Are you even listening?”

Kurt suddenly felt terrible when he noticed Blaine’s eyes were slowly filling with unshed tears.

“No, honey, please, I’m listening,” Kurt said, and he felt guilty again for how much his words were just in the interest of avoiding a fight. He needed to leave for work in 15 minutes, and he hadn’t even had a sip of coffee yet.

He could clearly see that Blaine’s sleep deprivation and worry were getting to him, and to be honest, he felt the same way. He felt so helpless when Oliver’s cries wouldn’t quieten, and Blaine continued to insist that he take all the night shifts because Kurt had to be up early for work. Kurt tried not to think of how pointless that was when there was no way that he was able to sleep through the cries anyway.

 “I’m sorry,” Blaine said, hurriedly wiping away the quickly falling tears. “I think I’m just worn out.”

Kurt sighed. “Blaine, if you need me to take care of him tonight, and you can get a full night’s sleep-“ he started, but Blaine interrupted him at once.

“No,” he said firmly, “You have to get up early for work, you can’t sit up half the night, and I’m perfectly capable.”

Kurt tried to interrupt, “I’m not saying you’re not capable, just that maybe-“ but Blaine lifted a hand to stop him.

“I’ll call the pediatrician tomorrow if it’s still this bad. For now I’ll just… take a nap or something. I’ll be fine.”

Kurt wanted to say something else, but Blaine got up and headed to pour his own cup of coffee as the machine behind him clicked off.

After Kurt had filled his own travel mug, he made his way into the nursery and over to the crib, where Oliver was sleeping soundly. Looking down at the sleeping baby, he felt his heart twist the way it always did when he looked at him. He was so small and fragile, delicate in a way that Kurt could hardly understand. The weeks had eradicated some of the fear that Kurt had over looking after Oliver, but he was so rarely alone with the baby that he still felt trepidation at the thought of making a mistake and hurting him.

He reached out a hand and ran the back of his finger over Oliver’s soft tuft of hair.

“See you later, little man,” he said quietly. “Try not to give your dad too hard a time, huh?”

 

* * *

 

Kurt had expected a slower day after making some progress to get ahead the day before, but he was proven wrong almost immediately when he arrived to find that the samples they had been working with were now being pulled in favor of a new designer’s latest whim. His team was now faced with all the logistics of the change, and Kurt was so furious that he refused to admit that he would have made the same call if it were up to him.

The stress left Kurt wound tight, and he knew his team was taking the brunt of it. They, in turn, were quick to start taking out their frustrations on each other. By the time he left the office that night, it was well past the time he usually arrived home.

When Kurt unlocked the door to the apartment, he was surprised to find Blaine still up and sitting on the couch with a mindless sitcom playing on the muted television. Blaine greeted him when he looked up, but made no move to get up from his exhausted slump on the couch, and Kurt couldn’t summon the energy to offer more than a cursory greeting in return. He made his way to the fridge, opening it, then closing it sharply when he realized there was nothing in it that could be microwaved into anything edible.

“You’re back late. Where were you?” Blaine’s question was obviously meant to be harmless, but the remainder of his irritability made Kurt’s answer harsher than he intended.

“I had a lot of work.” Blaine raised his eyebrows at Kurt’s tone, but otherwise did not comment.

“Didn’t you eat already?” Blaine asked, when Kurt took out a loaf of bread instead, and started cutting it into slices.

“No, I just told you,” Kurt said, and he knew his tone was too harsh, but he couldn’t stop himself. “I was working.”

“Okay,” Blaine said, but his voice was harder now in response to Kurt’s own. “I just thought you might have called out for something.”

“I didn’t have time, Blaine,” Kurt snapped, but then brought his hand up to the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shit against the migraine that was slowly making its way up his temples. “God, sorry,” he said, trying to calm himself. It wasn’t Blaine’s fault he’d had a bad day at work. “Just… It was a long day. I’m exhausted.”

When Kurt looked up, he could see the confusion and hurt in Blaine’s eyes, but he closed off a second later.

“It’s okay, I know the feeling. Another early night, I guess?” Blaine said patiently.

Kurt smiled in gratitude. “Yeah, you go ahead, I’ll be there in a minute.” He gestured to the half made sandwich in front of him, and Blaine nodded before heading towards the bedroom.

Kurt’s sandwich was less than satisfying after his long day, but Kurt was grateful to be able to crawl into bed and forget everything that had happened that day. Blaine was already asleep, but Kurt smiled at the way that he unconsciously snuggled into Kurt’s warmth when he wrapped an arm over his side, the guilt over his short temper earlier rising up uncomfortably in the face of Blaine’s unconscious trust.

Blaine had obviously been waiting up for him to arrive home, and he felt terrible that most of the time they’d spent together lately was spent sleeping. He was so stressed, but his boyfriend was so exhausted that Kurt felt bad bringing up his work struggles. They seemed like they belonged to a different world when Kurt arrived home and was faced with all new problems, like how they were going to get Oliver to stop fussing long enough to eat, or sleep. Packed on top of each other they seemed so overwhelming. Kurt had to close his eyes against the rush of anxiety that he felt just thinking about how he was going to cope the next day.

He was doing the best he could at work, considering. He’d find a new swing eventually, a way to get back to his previous standards. He always did. Even in high school, Kurt found each new struggle an opportunity to prove himself the best. He just needed a little more time to figure out exactly how he was going to do that.

And his relationship with Blaine would start moving forward again in time, once they found a way to help Oliver and get him on a proper sleeping schedule. If Blaine would just let Kurt help, just try…

Despite his exhaustion, Kurt struggled to fall asleep that night, and it felt as though he’d been out for only a minute before the sounds of crying reached his ears through the monitor. It wasn’t soft, but when he jolted awake, he could hear Blaine’s soft breathing telling him that he’d managed to sleep through it for once. Kurt made a snap decision, and quickly turned the monitor off, crawling out from Blaine’s grip. He closed the bedroom door quietly behind him as he made his way to the kitchen to make up a bottle, following the procedure he’d watched Blaine follow before.

Kurt could hardly remember a time when Blaine had been able to get a decent night’s sleep, and Kurt felt a surge of anticipation at how thankful Blaine would be when he realized that Kurt could help him out with midnight feedings. How proud he might be that Kurt was competent enough to be of some assistance. And it might make up for what a pain Kurt had been lately.

Oliver’s face was already turning red with his little cries when Kurt entered the nursery, and Kurt carefully pulled him into his chest, rocking him a little as he made soothing noises around a yawn.

Kurt sat down in the plush chair in the corner, and offered Oliver the bottle. Feeding Oliver was one of the only things Blaine would happily allow Kurt to do from time to time, admitting that he didn’t feel quite as guilty as if Kurt had to change diapers, despite how often Kurt told him that he honestly didn’t mind doing it. This familiar action seemed to sooth Oliver as he looked up at Kurt with big trusting eyes. After a while, his eyelids started to drop, and he was asleep again.

Kurt tried not to jostle the baby as he placed him back into his crib, and moved quietly back to the door. He was just pulling it closed behind himself again when Blaine appeared in the hallway.

“What are you doing?” he asked, and Kurt could hear an odd tone in his voice. “Did you turn the monitor off?”

“Yeah,” Kurt said with a smile, “I thought you could use the sleep, and I didn’t mind doing it-“

“Kurt,” Blaine said, and Kurt could hear the unmistakable sound of frustration in his tone. “I told you, I didn’t want you getting up in the night for him, that’s my responsibility, and I don’t want you to have to-“

“Blaine, it was no big deal,” Kurt said, soothingly. “I just gave him a bottle and he went straight back to sleep-“

“What?” Blaine interrupted, and his voice was definitely stonier now. 

“Like I said, it was no big deal.”

“No, what do you mean he went straight back to sleep? He hasn’t gone down straight after a feeding in a week, how did you-?” But now tears were filling Blaine’s eyes.

“I just rocked him,” Kurt said, and he was lost. Now he thought about it, surely that process had happened much too easily. When Blaine got up for a feeding, he was gone for hours, sometimes not even returning to bed that night. 

“I’ve rocked him! Sung, burped him, held him in a million different positions meant to help him sleep, and nothing worked.” Blaine was yelling now, but Kurt’s mind seemed to be working at half speed. This was the opposite of what was meant to happen. Why couldn’t Blaine see that this was a triumph? This was the moment when Kurt had proven himself capable of doing something more than just holding Oliver while Blaine fixed his bottle or grabbed his diaper bag.

Kurt’s voice was rising in response, and his temper, so close to the surface nowadays, rose again. “Blaine, why are you upset, isn’t this a good thing?”

But Blaine didn’t seem to be listening to him. “I’m his dad, why can’t I get him to go down, and you just walk in-“

Kurt stopped short. Was Blaine… jealous? “What? Blaine, this is ridiculous,” and Kurt wanted to laugh, because it was. Oliver had gone down on his own, it’s not like Kurt had done some difficult feat to make it happen.

But Blaine didn’t seem to get it, because he continued. “No, it’s not! God, I’m the one who’s meant to be doing this!”

At the familiar argument, Kurt’s anger returned full force. “Blaine, I just managed to get Oliver down so we might have the first good night sleep this week, and instead you want to pick a fight because you didn’t get to do it? Can’t you just be happy for me? I finally managed to help out-“

“But that’s the point!” Blaine ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “You weren’t meant to be doing this; I was! You’ve got a job to worry about, and a kid who’s not even your responsibility, you shouldn’t have to get up at all hours of the night-“

“I want to, Blaine! You say that you want to let me into your lives, but when Oliver cries you won’t even let me help out? God, I thought that we were meant to be moving forward in our relationship, that we’d start acting more like a family, but you freak out if I even hold Oliver without your supervision!”

“That is so unfair, I never said you-“

But Kurt had had enough. He’d had a crap day of work on top of a week of sleepless nights, and now Blaine was jealous over something that wasn’t even Kurt’s fault. He couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out; all his fear and frustrations erupting at once. “And God, I need to do something around here, I need one area of my life that I’m not fucking up right now!”

Blaine’s voice was quieter now. “What?”

Kurt paid no attention to the change in Blaine’s tone, his words coming faster now. “Marcia threatened to add John to my project because I’m too distracted and goddamn exhausted to run the team! They’re stressed out and our work is sloppy, and I know they’re all blaming me. I mean, they should be, it’s my responsibility.”

Blaine’s voice was still quiet when he spoke, “This is what I mean. I told you that I didn’t want this getting in the way of your life. How do you think you saying that makes me feel? That Oliver and I might be causing problems for you at work?”

“That’s not what I meant!” Kurt let out a hard breath. “It’s not you… and God, it’s not Oliver’s fault, he’s just a baby.” The adrenaline that was coursing through Kurt’s body a moment ago suddenly seemed depleted and he felt his exhaustion returning. “God, what are we even fighting about?” It was the middle of the night and they were having a screaming match down the hall from a sleeping baby. It had escalated so quickly.  

He covered his face with his hands and turned away from the closed off expression on Blaine’s face. When did he become the type of person who let all his worries overwhelm him to the point he felt like he needed to scream to be heard? “I feel like I don’t even know who I am anymore. I’m not the type of person who screws up like this.”

“Kurt, I think you should stay at your place tonight.”

Kurt’s head snapped up to look at Blaine again. “What? No, it was just a stupid fight, it’s the middle of the night and we’re both tired-“ but he was cut off by Blaine’s calm voice.

“I’m not kicking you out, Kurt.” He sighed, but his posture told Kurt he wasn’t going to be backing down. Kurt struggled to meet Blaine’s eyes, not wanting him to see how rapidly they were filling with tears. “You’re right. It’s the middle of the night, we’re sleep deprived, and I think we need some time to think about this. It’s not working.”

“What’s not working?” Kurt said, hating how thick his voice sounded even to his own ears.

“Kurt, you just said you don’t feel like you know yourself anymore. Do you know how that makes me feel? This is just… It’s too much pressure.” He took a deep breath, but when he spoke, his voice was steady. “When was the last time that we even sat down and talked. God, I didn’t even know you were having problems at work! We need to think about this.”

“Think about what, this is nothing, I was just trying to help,” but Blaine cut him off again.

“ _I_ need to think, Kurt,” he said, and nausea was rising in Kurt at the infliction. “I’m feeling a little overwhelmed, and I think I just need some space.”

“But I love you,” Kurt said, and damn, he didn’t want to cry.

“I love you, too,” Blaine said, and now Kurt could clearly hear the pain behind the careful mask of his face. “Go get some sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow.” 

Kurt felt himself following the instructions automatically, but the anger and hurt coursing through him slam the door shut behind him.

When Kurt unlocked his apartment and walked inside, it felt as though a lifetime had passed since he’d lived there. The calm quiet of his apartment mocked him. When he fell onto the crisp, cold bed sheets in the absolute silence of his bedroom, all he could think about was the warm embrace that was only across the hall, yet so far away. 


	32. Chapter 32

When Kurt awoke the next day, he was better rested than he had been since Oliver was born. His skin looked brighter, and his cheeks rosier than he’s seen them in a long time. He also felt absolutely, devastatingly heart broken. He lay in bed long after his alarm told him that it was time to get ready for work, staring at the walls of his apartment and trying to remember what it felt like to be at home in this room. Now it was cold and empty, a reminder of his life before Blaine. He felt tears fill his eyes at the thought that if Blaine decided that it wasn’t worth it, it wasn’t just Blaine he was losing, but Oliver too. The beginnings of a family that he’d been imagining in his future.

It was only when he remembered his own words in the fight before about his worries for his job that he picked himself up, and hastily grabbed whatever mismatched clothes hadn’t yet made the move to Blaine’s apartment. He hesitated outside Blaine’s door, but Blaine had asked for space. The least he could do was respect that now.

Over the course of the day, Kurt oscillated from despair over the now apparent distance between him and his boyfriend, and anger over the fact that the fight had happened in the first place.

It was in this mood that Kurt made his way out of his office at the end of the day. He’d only been trying to help with Oliver. To do something that would make Blaine see that he was capable of being more involved. For all that Blaine talked about his family, and how Kurt would eventually become a part of it, he seemed to be doing his upmost to avoid any progress down that road.

Kurt wasn’t an idiot, he could be some help, after all. Blaine made it sound as though Kurt lifting a finger to help with Oliver was some kind of sacrifice that Kurt was making, but it wasn’t that at all. And, God, contributing in some way, feeling needed in any way… Couldn’t he see that Kurt needed it?

Kurt was still fuming when he reached the elevator, but was distracted by a woman standing in front of him, trying to keep her grip on what seemed to be a very heavy, oversized package and push the button for the elevator at the same time. Her grip on the package faltered, and Kurt reflexively reached out for it.

“Careful,” he said. “Can I help you with that?”

The woman gave him a shy smile before saying, “Thanks. I thought I’d be able to carry it no problem, but I tend to bite off more than I can chew.”

But Kurt smiled, “I’m sure you could have handled it. It seemed like you had a handle on it before.”

 “For a while, at least,” she agreed. “Some people offered to help, but I’m pretty determined.” She gave a self-depreciating laugh.

“But that doesn’t mean we don’t all need help every now and then.” Kurt argued. “My boyfriend’s the most determined person I’ve ever met, and we actually met when I offered to carry a box for him.” His heart twisted at the memory.

“I guess it’s harder for some of us than others,” the woman said. “Being willing to accept help, even when we need it. But I guess what goes around comes around, because now maybe I can return the favor?” she added as the doors to the elevator opened and they stepped inside. “What floor, good sir?”

Kurt smiled at her as he told her he was headed to the ground floor, and she pushed the button for him. Inside, however, her words were settling something inside him. When they reached her stop, Kurt placed the package back into the woman’s arms with her assurance that she could handle it from there, and when she departed with a smile, Kurt pushed the button to return to his floor.

Dashing back to his department, he passed by Marcia’s secretary and knocked on her open door.

“Kurt,” Marcia said, looking up from her desk with a look of surprise on her face. “What can I do for you?”

“I think that it would be a good idea to put John on my team,” Kurt said calmly.

Marcia frowned at him before saying, “But Kurt, you were adamant that you didn’t want him-“

“I changed my mind,” Kurt interrupted swiftly. “It’s a big project, and I think an extra hand could be very beneficial to the group morale, especially after the delays from the switch yesterday.” He paused for a moment before adding, “I think I need to realize when I need some help.”

Marcia considered him for a moment, and then nodded. “Done,” she said calmly. “I’ll call him in first thing tomorrow to give him the brief. I trust you can take it from there?”

“Yes,” Kurt said, before nodding her goodbye, and heading back towards the elevator, his shoulders set.

* * *

 

When Kurt arrived back at the apartment building, he stood debating with himself outside of Blaine’s door for ten minutes before using his key to unlock the door and push it gently open.

The living room was in the same state it had been in the night before, the table cluttered with Blaine’s baby books still open to various sections on child soothing. Kurt’s plate he’d used the night before for his sandwich was still in the sink from where he’d left it in his bad mood to be cleaned the next morning.

The additions where all contained to the kitchen table, where a mug stood, the last dregs of what must have been warm milk remaining, surrounded by tissues that had Kurt’s heart dropping at the thought of Blaine sitting here in tears after he had left the night before.

Kurt only hoped that he hadn’t made any final decisions just yet.

Blaine was nowhere to be seen, and he couldn’t hear him moving around in the bedroom, so he made his way to the nursery where the door stood ajar. There he found Blaine asleep in the soft chair that Kurt had picked out so many months before. Instead of facing the big window on the far side of the room however, it had been moved so that it was facing the crib where Oliver was also deeply asleep. The mobile above his cot was still swinging gently, the birds’ wings flapping noiselessly in their cycle, so Kurt knew that they couldn’t have been asleep for long. He backed out of the room, and closed the door softly behind himself.

Moving back to the lounge he started clearing away the mess around the living room, the repetitive actions soothing him as he waited for Blaine to wake.

He’d moved on to cleaning the kitchen when he heard a noise behind him, and turned to find Blaine standing in the doorway, looking hesitant.

“Kurt,” he said quietly. “You don’t have to do that-“

“I asked Marcia to add John to my project today.” Kurt said swiftly, talking over Blaine in his haste to say what he’d been thinking since he’d left the office. “He’s a weasel face who’ll try to take credit for all my work, but I realized something important. I find it really hard to admit when I need help. I’ll always do everything I can to actively avoid having to ask for help, apparently no matter how stressed or overwhelmed I feel. But I guess I needed to learn that it’s okay to ask for help when you need it.” Kurt hesitated for a moment, but then pushed through. “And I think you need to realize the same thing.

“I know that you’re afraid I’ll take on more than I can handle and resent you for it. But Blaine, I need to do more so I can feel like I’m contributing to this arrangement in some way. And I think that you need to learn that you don’t have to do everything on your own.”

Blaine gave Kurt a watery smile, but didn’t move from his spot in the doorway. “I’m just afraid of relying on someone too much. What if I do and you leave?” He wrapped his arms around himself and looked away from Kurt’s gaze. “It’s not that I want to do it all on my own. It’s that I need to know I can.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little unfair on me?” Kurt countered. “You’re assuming I’ll fail before you even give me the chance to try. I’m capable, Blaine. I know I could do this if you give me the chance. But I need you to have confidence in me too.”

“You’re right,” Blaine said, and Kurt let out a sigh of relief that Blaine seemed to understand where he was coming from; everything he should have said weeks ago. Blaine took a step out of the doorway, and Kurt crossed the rest of the space to wrap his arms around his boyfriend.

“I’m sorry for how I acted last night,” Blaine said into his shoulder, tightening his hold around Kurt’s back. “I shouldn’t have made you leave like that.”

“No, I think I needed the space to sort stuff out myself,” Kurt said honestly. “And I’m sorry for being such a stubborn jerk lately. Marcia knew I needed help, but I waited until everything seemed to be falling apart before I knew I could accept it.”

“Are you okay with it though? You hate John.”

“Yeah,” Kurt chuckled into Blaine’s hair. His relief that things were getting back on track made the situation seem so easy. “But there are certain perks that go along with being team leader. Every time he’s an asshole I’ll give him more work.”

Blaine finally pulled back to look at Kurt, his eyes still slightly red, but a smile taking over his face. “It’s so hot when you abuse your power.”

Kurt laughed and pulled Blaine into him again. “How’s Oliver been today?”

“Better.”

“So it wasn’t any magical ability on my part that made him go down so easily last night?”

Blaine grinned indulgently at him. “Kind of. When I was looking up his symptoms online, some of the websites said to try changing his formula, so I went out and got a new one. I hadn’t tried it out, but you used it to make Oliver’s bottle last night. Then this morning I gave in and called Oliver’s new pediatrician and, of course, the first thing he suggested was to change his formula. He’s got to go in for checkup next week, but he’s already so much better today.”

Kurt suddenly felt the tension of his worry alleviate with the knowledge that nothing was seriously wrong with Oliver. That, coupled with the fact that his and Blaine’s relationship was back on track made him feel light and giddy with relief.

“I love you,” he said, and without giving Blaine any time to reply, he leaned down to kiss Blaine in a way that he hadn’t since before Oliver was born, a kiss full of intent.

Blaine seemed taken aback at first, but then hummed happily into the kiss, the vibrations across Kurt’s lips making arousal rise in his belly. Blaine moved his hands down the slope of Kurt’s back, lingering low on his spine, teasingly. He knew that it was too soon for sex, that though it had seemed like a different life before Oliver was born, it was actually only a short time, and Blaine was still recovering. Kurt was nevertheless happy to continue for just a little longer when a high cry echoed through the nursery door.

Kurt groaned, but the smile on his face ruined the effect.

“Hurry back?” he asked, only half teasingly.

Blaine gave him a soft smile, but his tone was obviously nonchalant. “Actually, I need a minute,” he said. “You know, I’ve got a few things I need to do. Do you mind checking on him?”

Kurt tried and failed to pull off the same nonchalance, instead allowing his smile to spread wide over his face. “Okay,” he said excitedly. “I’ve got this.” He kissed Blaine once more, whispering, “Thank you,” over his lips, before he darted towards the nursery door.

“It’s okay, little man,” he said, lifting Oliver out of his crib, and checking his diaper. “Let me help you out, huh?”  

 


End file.
